For the People
by angyelsglaive
Summary: A new colony is founded, and the people try to resume a life interrupted by war. But the war has cost Frontier heavily, and change is coming. Alto, Ranka, and Sheryl are asked to make a choice that should be easy, but may be the hardest decision yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

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After landing on the Vajra planet, life returned to almost normal for the majority of the inhabitants of the Frontier. The remaining intact Islands were brought to the planet's surface, giving the colony enough manufacturing and food production to sustain itself for the immediate future. Fold couriers were sent to Earth and Eden, notifying the governments there of both the settlement of the planet and the tentative peace that was struck with the Vajra. The majority of the citizens settled into the same lives they had before. Frontier City would be the home of the majority of the colony for the foreseeable future, and many returned to the lives they had before the war. The two biggest exceptions to this rule were the Frontier's songstresses, Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee.

Sheryl chose to settle down on the new planet, eschewing any attempts to convince her to conduct another tour. Instead, she returned to the path that she had started months before, resuming classes at Mihoshi in the piloting track. As screwed up as the past few months had been, she still enjoyed flying, and wanted to be able to do so on her own. The fact that she already had enough credits from her pervious education and from credits granted for 'life experience', to dual major in the Entertainment track was just icing on the cake. She didn't need either certification, but it gave her something to do when she wasn't singing, and it allowed her to be near Alto without her coming out and saying that she was trying to do so. Besides, Ranka was there, and she wasn't about to give the younger girl any advantages.

Ranka, on the other hand, was quite possibly the busiest person on the colony. She attended classes, although she was being given credit, like Sheryl, for both her recent experiences, and her current position of being the only person who could communicate with the Vajra. This position kept the young girl's schedule full, and more than once Ozma Lee had been forced to tell the government that enough was enough and it was time for Ranka to go home for the night. While Sheryl was learning the same skills, Ranka had had them for years, and had been using them for months, and was better at interpreting for the Vajra hive mind. Too, the hive mind liked Ranka better. It had been suggested that Ranka drop out of school to leave more time for her work with the Vajra, but the green-haired girl had put her foot down and insisted that she was going to remain in class. Eventually, others would be able to 'talk' to the Vajra, and she needed some of the skills she was learning in school in any case, particularly the musical theory classes. And Sheryl was in school, and there was no way that Ranka was giving the idol a free run at Alto.

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Ranka was walking towards school, the Vajra larva she had named 'Ai' following closely behind her. It had taken a few weeks, but Ai had learned to wait outside for her, usually sunning itself on the catapult deck the school used for X-gear launches. If only Ranka could get rid of her other shadow so easily.

"Hello, Klan," she said as she passed through the gateway and the micronized meltran fell into step with her. The petite blunette was wearing a copy of the same uniform that Ranka herself was. The pilot had started showing up at the school the same day that Ranka had resumed classes, and although the meltran didn't come out and say it, Ranka knew the girl was assigned to her as a bodyguard. Considering how important the government considered her, coupled with the fact that if anything untoward were to happen to her the Vajra might just resume their attacks on the colony, she was surprised that she got away with as little protection as she did. Of course, considering that Alto and Luca were also on site might have something to do with it.

"Good morning, Ranka-chan," Klan replied. "I heard the Commander gave the government another chewing out yesterday."

Ranka blushed heavily. She knew her brother knew such words, but he had never used them in her presence before. She had learned several new words, and she was sure that one of the things her brother had suggested was anatomically impossible. "Yes, onii-san was mad yesterday. I've had a meeting with the government every night for the past two weeks, and he told them I was getting a real weekend this weekend. I'd be excited, but I'm too tired."

Klan chuckled. While babysitting Ranka (and Sheryl, although that was more disaster management than protection) was not the most glamorous of posts, it let her spend time with people of her apparent, if not her actual, age group. The fact that these people were all Michel's friends, and were willing to tell her stories about her deceased love that had nothing to do with his military service, had never crossed her mind. Honest. "So no plans then?"

Ranka shook her head. "No. I didn't get home till late last night, so I haven't had any time to make plans. "Besides," and here she gave a sigh, "Alto's got patrol duty tomorrow morning. I think Onii-san's being cruel."

Klan laughed outright at that. "More like he wants you to actually get some sleep, and not make some outrageous plan to spend the whole day with Alto-hime." Klan chuckled again. She had latched onto Michel's nickname for Alto as just one more connection to her love, and while she knew it wasn't entirely healthy, the wounds were too fresh, and right now it was more important for her to be functional than for her to properly heal.

Ranka sighed again. "I know. It's still cruel. Sheryl has gotten to spend so much time with him recently; I'm starting to feel that I'm falling behind. Its hard enough to compete as it is." She pulled at the front of her blouse, and Klan could wholly empathize. Ranka was still slender and hadn't developed much of a bust, and while Ranka was cute, Sheryl was gorgeous and was a galactic sex symbol. Still, there wasn't much the meltran could do in those regards.

"Do you have to compete?" Klan asked, and Ranka stopped and looked at her oddly.

"What do you mean? Do you think I should give up on Alto?"

Klan shook her head. "No. I don't know what I mean. It's just something Nene and Kanaria and I were talking about the other day. Did you know we lost over thirty-five percent of the men between the ages of sixteen and forty during the conflict? And with the slight female-to-male skew our birthrate has had, the ratio of men to women is about 3 to 5. The government is already talking about possible solutions, from immigration incentives for males to artificial insemination to, er, allowing multiple wives."

Ranka froze. "EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?"

Klan nodded, and then shrugged. "Not like it's my problem. No one would touch me like this, and I've never met any decent zentran men. And besides…" She let her voice trail off. Ranka knew what 'besides' was.

Ranka's brain had finally rebooted. "Are you serious about the wives thing?"

Klan shrugged again. "It's just an idea. There haven't been any decisions made, yet, and Kanaria got all her information from Lt. Glass, so I know the source is good."

Ranka gave a little giggle, and the two resumed walking. "How is Cathy? Do they know if it's a boy or a girl yet?" Her brother and the pretty lieutenant had celebrated their survival and the planetfall in the oldest and most human of ways, and a month and a half later the couple had announced that Cathy was expecting. Now just into the second trimester, Cathy was past morning sickness and had started to get weird cravings, so that might account for a little of her brother's recent irritability.

Klan gave a pout. "If they know, they aren't telling. And Kanaria was sworn to secrecy on the matter." Klan's mouth turned up in a sly grin. "You want to hear some juicy SMS gossip?"

Ranka mulled the thought. She wasn't big into gossip, but Nanase was, and the drama of SMS had become her favorite topic after Sheryl and Ranka herself. After all, her friend's boyfriend was an SMS pilot, and drama there ended up affecting him in one way or another. "What's going on with SMS now?" Ranka asked quietly.

Klan giggled. Sometimes, Ranka thought that the micronization affected the meltran's brain. The few times Ranka saw the blunette macronized, she never giggled. "It _seems_ that our military liaison is not the only member of the crew that's expecting."

Ranka frowned. "Not Kanaria?" Klan shook her head, and Ranka thought about what she knew about the crew of the _Quarter_. She didn't really know many of them all that well, but if Klan was bringing it up, it probably wasn't one of the ratings. The only women she had met of the crew, other than Kanaria, Klan, and Nene, had been her brother's fiancée and the bridge girls, whom she had met during that last, desperate battle against Galaxy. Wait, hadn't there been a minor scandal about the captain of the quarter and…

"The bridge girl, the purple-haired one? No, wait; it was the red-head, not the plunette."

Klan nodded. "Yep! Monica has a bun in the oven." Her grin was positively feral. "The military high command wanted to raise all sorts of stink about it, apparently, but with the conflict over, Exception Clause B is no longer in effect and we no longer fall under direct military control. So the Captain told the military to stick it. He and Monica are getting married next month." She shrugged. "It isn't that different than Max and Miria Jenius, back in the Zentran War. I don't see what the big deal is."

Ranka nodded. "I don't either, but I don't really understand the military. Even with Alto and my brothers in it, I just don't understand."

"Brothers? Oh, right, Brera," Klan said. "I haven't seen much of him lately, what do they have him doing?"

"I think Ozma-onii-san said something about tracking down the survivors of the Galaxy convoy." Ranka's face grew grim. "Most of the Galaxy people didn't know anything about the plot. Everyone that was in on it was onboard Battle Galaxy. If understanding the military means I can understand why those people did that, then I'd rather not understand." A few tears had formed in Ranka's eyes. "If they weren't so stupid, I could just be a normal girl! I'm tired of everyone needing me!"

Klan stopped, and Ranka lunged at her, hugging her and crying. She patted the verdant-haired girl on the back awkwardly. She was terrible at this sort of thing; it had been one of the barriers between her and Michel.

"Ranka?" another voice asked, and Klan looked up and was thrilled to see Ranka's friend (and Luca's girlfriend) Nanase. The plunette still sported several bandages, and a brace supported her injured knee, but she was finally recovered most of the way from her extended hospitalization. Klan waved her free hand in Ranka's direction, and Nanase came over and gently took the songstress off the pilot's hands. The two nodded at each other, and Nanase worked on comforting the exhausted and emotional Ranka Lee.

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Sheryl was getting bored. She hadn't reached the point that she started acting out, that point that usually sent people running for cover for fear of her temper, but she was bored. She understood why she had to take theory classes, she really did, but she was much more of a hands-on person. She learned by doing. The only classroom subject she currently was taking that she paid attention to was her finance class, one of her 'electives' that she required for her Entertainment major, and that was more because she had always allowed Grace to manage her finances and her scheduling, and look what a disaster that had turned into! So while she understood taking physics, outside of the labs she didn't learn a whole lot.

Finally, the class ended for the day and she stood, stretching. She glared at a few of the boys that were watching her stretches much too closely for her comfort, but she needed to stretch her back after sitting for so long. Damn perverts. The only one she wanted watching her so closely was Alto.

Sheryl sighed. She didn't know what to do about the situation. She knew Alto didn't. The bishounen pilot adored both herself and Ranka, he had admitted as much during the chaos of the last battle, and the poor boy was unable to make a choice in the matter. She couldn't even blame him. While Ranka wasn't sensual like she herself was, the girl was undeniably cute, and Sheryl adored the green haired girl, as well. Truth be told, there had always been something about Ranka, going back to the first time the two of them had met. Sheryl had never gone out of her way to help anyone so much as she had helped the vernette, and she wasn't really sure why she had done so. She encouraged girls, surely, but something about Ranka had made her want to help the girl.

Had she known that the girl would be her primary competition for the man she had come to love…she would still have probably helped her. Ranka found a joy in song like she herself did, and do deny the girl that would have been cruel in the extreme. The whole situation was just extremely frustrating, in more ways than one. Now that she had admitted that she loved her Alto-hime, she wanted every bit of him. She wanted to love him and make love to him, and the constant holding pattern brought about by the situation was driving her to distraction. She had fallen asleep in Alto's arms many times, but she could never get him to take the next step. He was too honorable by far, but that's part of why she loved him.

She looked over at her rival in love, who was nominally taking the class as an elective, but was really here because it was the easiest class she could take that Alto was in. Ranka was being run ragged by her current schedule, but there wasn't much advice Sheryl could give the girl in that regard. Her fellow songstress HAD to meet with the government, if only to relay communication to the Vajra and give the hive's consensus answer in return. Sheryl was getting to the point that she could understand the exchanges between Ranka and the hive, but the few times she had spoken to the hive, there was always an underlying current of "where is Ranka?" She had a feeling that she would always be second-best to the hive mind, but that was alright with her. Ranka could have the hive mind. Sheryl wanted Alto.

She looked the other direction, toward the object of her desire. The three of them had come to an agreement not to do anything blatant in school, if only to keep the rumors under control. Her love was finishing up writing his notes on the lecture material. He was studious, her Alto, throwing himself into learning everything he needed to know to be the best pilot he could. His 'brother' had said, more than once, that Alto was playing the role of a pilot. Sheryl disagreed. The way Alto went about piloting, perhaps, was a role. But he loved flying with such a passion that it couldn't be an act. Or if it was, he had played the role for so long that it had become the reality. Her boyfriend WAS a pilot. It defined him.

Sheryl packed her materials in her bag – occasionally, the mundane tasks of school life amused her – and started to leave the room. The whole piloting class had X-gear practicals next, an area that she was lagging behind in, although she was doing much better. For one thing, she NEVER forgot to lock her X-gear after the panty incident. She also had an X-gear that was calibrated to her, as opposed to Luca. She had been surprised to learn that Luca actually had a more delicate touch than she did, and that the day she was using his gear, the sensitivity was set much too high for a beginner. She suspected that it was another one of those pranks that the old hands pulled on the novices. While she still cracked eggs on occasion, she wasn't nearly as clumsy as she had been the first time she had tried to operate a gear.

"Sheryl," a voice called out, and she looked over. The voice belonged to Lieutenant Commander Klan Klan, Sheryl's sometimes favorite meltran. Well, favorite might be pushing it, but she would always remember the first time she had met the meltran girl, at Formo while shopping with Alto. That was the day that Ranka had come out for the first time, after all.

"Hello, Klan," she replied. "Still stuck on guard duty?"

The blunette shrugged. "There are worse things. I get to spend time in Michel's school, with his friends, and I occasionally learn things. If I'm going to take over his slot, I need to know some of the things that you're learning." She looked over at her charge. Ranka had several vocal classes today, and Klan was persona non grata with most of the voice instructors. It wasn't her fault that she had terrible pitch. "You have X-gear next?" Sheryl nodded. "I think I'll be of more service with you for the next couple of hours."

The idol giggled. "You mean that you don't want to get thrown out for humming along badly again."

The meltran girl pouted. "That's mean, Sheryl."

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"So," Klan said as the two were changing into their flight skins, "how are things going on the relationship front?"

Sheryl gave Klan a little glare. "You are the biggest busybody, always sticking your nose in. Didn't you talk to Ranka this morning?"

The SMS pilot nodded. "Of course. I want to hear your side of the whole thing, though."

The rosette sighed. "It's not really going anywhere, to be honest. Alto loves me, I know he does. But he loves Ranka too, and he doesn't want to hurt either of us. I don't think he _can_ hurt either of us. So we've hit this plateau. I've been ready to tear his clothes off the past few days, I'm so frustrated. At least I get to sleep in his arms most nights, but that's only because Ranka gets home so late." She and Alto had continued to use the Lee apartment after things had returned to normal, with Ranka joining them while Ozma had moved in with Lt. Glass. It was awkward sometimes, but it kept the competition between the two on an equal footing, for the most part. Sheryl slept next to Alto almost every night, and Ranka claimed him the few nights she was home before they went to bed. Twice, now, Sheryl had woken up to find Ranka had joined the two of them once she got home. She wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

"So why don't you?" Klan asked, and Sheryl looked at her. "Tear his clothes off, I mean."

The singer sighed. "Ranka," she said, as if one word could explain it all.

"She's your competition."

"But she's also my friend," Sheryl replied. "And doing that would be…it would feel like I'm cheating."

Klan nodded. "You want to win him without sex. That, I can understand. That's always been the only way I could win in love, so I can respect that." The blunette looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wasn't sure if I was going to tell you this, but I already told Ranka." She quickly related the gender ratio problem, and the Frontier government's possible solutions. "So it's definitely an issue, right now. Getting men to immigrate is fine, but it's not like there are a lot of colonies with a surplus of them, except maybe zentran battalions, but most of the zentran aren't exactly primed and ready for the dating scene."

Sheryl looked thoughtful. "You're not telling me this just to mess with me, are you?"

The meltran shrugged. "No reason to. Nothing's been decided, of course. And the only reason I know is because of Cathy. But something is going to have to be done. I confirmed the numbers myself, on the death rates." Both girls winced slightly at that.

Sheryl looked at Klan for a moment. "Klan, when's the last time you macronized?"

The blunette had the grace to blush. "Right after we landed, I macronized for a few days to help with search and rescue. I've been micronized since."

"Hoping you'll grow if you stay this way?"

Now Klan flushed with anger. "That's not funny!" She sighed. "Besides, it won't help. I know why I get stuck this size, it's a micronization thing. Let's just say there's a reason that zentran kids don't get micronized until after puberty."

Sheryl felt bad for her joke, now. "I'm sorry, Klan. I was just teasing you. Ready to go fly?" The meltran nodded, and the two went off to class.

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Contrary to popular belief, Saotome Alto knew exactly how lucky he was to have to beautiful, talented girls in love with him. He also knew that he cared for them both, loved them both, which is where all his problems lay. Which is why he was going over his pre-flight checklist for the patrol he had the next morning, before he turned in for the night in his barracks room, rather than think about the issue at the moment. Unfortunately, when your squad commander was also the brother of one of your girlfriends, he wasn't often allowed that option, and he suppressed a sigh as Ozma Lee walked into the hanger.

"Alto," he said in his gruff manner, "come with me." He turned and Alto did sigh, this time. Dealing with Ozma had become difficult as of late, and Alto wasn't sure if it was the Ranka situation, or the fact that the Commander's fiancée was a pregnant hormonal mess.

The two of them stopped in one of the observation rooms that were underwater now, the dark water barely illuminated by the moonlight and ring-light filtering down through the depths. The two of them stared out the window for a moment.

"Alto-kun," Ozma said after a few minutes of silence, "I know your situation is difficult. I know that I probably have only added to your difficulty. I've been trying to look out for my sister, for Ranka, the only way I know how. I've had to protect her from so many things for so long, that being over protective is my way."

"Commander…"

"Let me finish," the senior pilot interrupted. "I didn't want to talk to you about this, but Cathy convinced me to. So let me say what I need to say." He paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. "We lost a lot of men in the war with the Vajra," he said, and Alto turned to look at him more closely at the apparent non-sequiter. "The official census we took right after landing put us at about a 3 to 5 ratio of men to women of military age." This fact shocked Alto; he hadn't realized just how bad the war had been. "This means that there is a huge deficit of males in the age group that would normally be relied upon to expand the colony's population in the next few years. So much so, that the government is taking action." The commander's face grew pained. "It has been noticed, at the highest levels, that you have a relationship to Ranka and to Sheryl Nome. As a war hero, your own status is rather high with the population at the moment." Ozma paused, and seemed to be struggling with himself.

"I knew you wouldn't be able to tell him," a quiet voice came from the doorway, and Lt. Cathy Glass stepped into the room. "They were stupid to ask you to do so." The lieutenant was still as pretty as ever, her middle just beginning to show her pregnant state, and she walked over to Ozma and wrapped an arm around his waist. "What the commander is trying to say, and is unable to, is that the government is going to announce in a few days that there will be a new law announced allowing people to take multiple spouses. There has been much agonizing over the law, but the fact is that the population is too skewed at the moment. It's not a permanent law, it is only in effect for the next five years, although any marriages will of course be permanent." She sighed as well. "The reason we are telling you this is, the government is hoping to use you, Ranka, and Sheryl as an example of how the law can work."

The words took a moment to register in Alto's mind. "Are you kidding me? Why in the hell would I agree to something stupid like that?"

The lieutenant's face became wry. "To being a poster child, or to marrying Ranka and Sheryl?"

Alto's brain locked up again, before he exploded. "Damnit! Either one! I…I…" his anger drained away. "I don't want to hurt either one of them. I would never have survived the war without them both. But this is…"

"Necessary," Ozma interjected. "Do you think I like this?" he asked. "Do you think I like the idea that my sister, my Ranka, would have to share you? I hate it! But Cathy is right. Right now, we need this policy. Sooner or later the people will realize that there aren't enough men. We need to be ready for it. And as much as I hate it, the three of you are the best example we could hope for. You all respect each other. You all care for one another. And you all love one another. Feh, look at what love does, Alto, I'm talking to you about this instead of kicking your ass."

Alto sighed. "I understand. Give me some time to think about this whole thing, I wasn't expecting to have a talk like this today."

Ozma and Cathy both nodded. "Think about it during your patrol tomorrow, and take some time and talk to Ranka and Sheryl when you get back. It's not something to jump into lightly."

Alto nodded. Somehow, he didn't think he would be getting much sleep tonight.

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**Author notes:** This is one of those random things that popped into my head. I generally do original fiction, but this idea would not let go, so I wrote it out to clear my brain. I'll go on record as being more of a Sheryl fan (the cute girl always seems to win over the pretty one in anime, so I was cheering for the pretty one for once), but I wanted to do something that was a slightly different take on the typical anime 'harem' fic. For one thing, it will be confined to the triangle; Alto will not suddenly be besieged by women. The law is not one of those 'you HAVE to do this' laws, but rather it allows for unusual solutions to unusual situations. And for another, it will not be an instant solution to all the problems they face. All three will have to adjust to the implications.

And I wanted to have an excuse to write Klan. And yes, I promoted her.

**Names and terms: **

'Michel' is how I am spelling Mikhael Braun's nickname. Alto always pronounces his full name like the Russian, so Mikhael is the spelling I will use if it comes up.

Blunette, plunette, vernette, and rosette: I hate writing 'blue-haired' or whatever over and over. I've seen blunette and rosette on the net before, for blue and pink hair respectively. Plunette is based on 'Plum' and the similar sound to blu- and brunette. Vernette is based on 'verdant' and 'verde', terms meaning green. And lets face it, any society that had to deal with zentran hair colors for fifty years would come up with terms for them.

Zentran vs. Meltran: Zentran are males, although it is also the catch-all term for both genders of the race. Meltran refers to females. Really, if you don't know this, why are you reading this fic?


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

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Alto Saotome loved flying the VF-25. It was an absolute hot rod of a machine, the cutting edge of VF technology. Brera might argue that the VF-27 was better, but the only reason Ranka's brother was capable of flying a 27 was due to the heavy cybernetic modification he had undergone. As far as Alto was concerned, anything that required you to become less human to operate it was a step down.

Alto hadn't truly appreciated the VF-25 until he had been forced to fly the VF-171s that NUNS operated. The heavily modified VF-17 was a pig; it was somewhat capable as a space fighter, but would have been slaughtered in the atmosphere, where the blocky shape and the add-on weapons would have degraded its performance below VF-11 levels.  
Not that the Thunderbolt wasn't a good fighter, but it was really more of an attack Valkyrie, designed for ground and ship assault and the suppression of Zentran renegades. The Messiah was a dogfighter, built for high-speed air and space combat.

He reveled in the fighter's capabilities right now, racing through the atmosphere to reach his assigned patrol route. No one in command expected any trouble on the patrols; however, no one was certain that every last malcontent from the Galaxy had been accounted for, so the patrols were made just to be certain.

Alto throttled back as he and his wingmate arrived at the start point for their patrol, reporting in to fighter control and the flight they were relieving. He glanced back and felt a pang seeing the bold blue of fighter that followed him, knowing that it was Lt. Commander Klan Klan that was flying the fighter, and his friend Michel was gone. He found it somewhat ironic that Klan was still flying a fighter that Michel had flown, while Alto was on his third Valkyrie since the sniper's death. It had become a running joke as to how many VF-25s the bishounen pilot had gone through since enlisting with SMS. Maintenance insisted that the fighter he used first, Guilliam's fighter, was the same fighter up until it was destroyed when Alto rescued Luca from the Vajra battleship. Commander Ozma insisted that with the amount of damage that had been done to the fighter, and the sheer number of replacement parts that had been used – namely both arms, one leg, most of the armor, and the complete replacement of the avionics and nose section – that the fighter that was lost in the rescue was technically Alto's _second_. It seemed that neither side would give in on the issue; Alto wasn't sure whether to be amused or dismayed. He had since destroyed both his VF-171 and the VF-25 he fought the final battle in, so he was either on his fourth or fifth Valkyrie. The bright blue VF-25G had been Michel's second since Alto joined SMS, and a part of Alto raged that his friend had not died in the cockpit like a pilot deserved.

"Alto, you're being quiet today," Klan's voice came over the radio. "Normally you're waxing ecstatic about flying in a sky by now."

Alto snorted, and then keyed the talk button. "I was just thinking about the past today, Klan."

"Well cut it out. You have lots to think about in your present, including giving me my last certification so I can officially be a VF wing leader. So pay attention to what I'm doing, and maybe let me take the lead so you can do some certifying, okay?" Klan had been annoyed by the whole process, although as a meltran she understood that the military had rules like these for a reason. She just didn't have to like them.

"Roger, roger, Lt. Commander. Skull-2, this is Skull-4, the lead is yours."

"You have my wing, Skull-4," Klan replied. "Try not to stare at my ass."

Alto chuckled. "Roger, Skull-2"

FTPFTPFTPFTP

The two VF-25s completed their sweep six hours later, as Wolf-3 and Wolf-7 reported on station, and turned their fighters back toward Frontier City. There was a referendum as to what both the city and the planet were to be named soon, and Alto wasn't sure which name was going to be chosen, although he himself favored the classic 'Barsoom'. As long as the wags trying to name it 'Ranka's World' didn't win, he didn't much care. Ranka didn't want the planet named for her, and Alto supported her in her view. He hadn't even paid attention to the debates about the city name, as he thought Frontier City was a fine name. The ship had served the colony well, and deserved to be remembered, even if Alto hadn't cared much for living there.

"So Alto," Klan's voice sounded over the SMS comnet, "I heard the Commander spoke to you last night…"

"Not you too, Klan!"

"I was just curious as to what you were thinking. Do you think you could marry Ranka and Sheryl?"

If it had been anyone else, he would have told them to mind their own business. But this was Klan, the woman who had told him of Sheryl's condition, the woman who advised him to seize the time he had before it was gone. He respected her opinions, and he knew that watching his love life was as close was the meltran was ever likely to get to romance again. While it was somewhat voyeuristic of her, she meant well, and he was able to talk to her, getting her insight as a woman and a soldier.

"I…I don't know, Klan. It wasn't something I had ever thought about. I knew I was going to have to choose some day, and I was dreading the choice. I…I love them both, deeply, but it's different for each of them."

He saw Klan's grin on the com screen, and knew what she was thinking. This was good, juicy stuff! But he trusted her. "So how is it different, Alto-hime?"

He growled, "Cut that out," and then gave a sigh. "Ranka is like the sun. She's warm, and cheerful, and without her the world would be dark and lifeless. Her light reflects from everyone, and spreads to everywhere, and she makes me better as a person, because there is nothing but light within her."

Klan almost commented, but Alto was only this poetic when he was being honest, and she didn't want to break the mood. "And Sheryl?"

"I used to think Sheryl was like the moon. More elusive, hiding, only shining upon me when she cared to." He took a deep breath. "Then, you told me she was dying, and I felt like I was drowning, or suffocating, and I realized that somewhere along the way, Sheryl had become like air to me, and that…that I couldn't live without her." He was embarrassed, he had never told anyone this, but he needed to talk about this with someone, and Klan was the most unbiased ear he knew.

The blunette was silent for a few minutes as they flew, but her expression was pensive, and he knew she was thinking about what he had told her. Finally, she spoke once more. "I think…I think you and I both know that, if you had to make a choice between the two of them, who you'd choose. It would hurt all three of you terribly, because you're all so close, but in the end, you would choose the Fairy." She saw him wince, and she knew she had scored a hit, but she had deliberately avoided using the rosette's name to soften the impact. "But right now, the issue is that you _don't_ have to choose between them. You've been given a gift, Alto, and you need to decide what to do with that gift. Do you love them both enough to not choose between them? Is not making a choice, and trying to love them both, something that you can do? Or will you end up favoring the one over the other, and end up with all three of you hurting just as bad as if you had made the choice?"

"I…I don't know, Klan. I haven't had a lot of time to think about it. I've never really thought about it in those terms before. Thank you for that, Klan."

His fellow pilot nodded. "I've had a lot of time to think about things like this. I like Sheryl, Alto. And I like Ranka. I don't want to see any of you in pain. If it were me, I know how I'd choose. I've lost everyone dear to me. If it were me, I'd grab onto those left and never let them go. For me, all I have left are my friends. You have so much more. Make the right decision for Alto, and let your girls decide what is right for them."

"Thank you, Klan."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka woke up slowly, wallowing in the ability to sleep in for once. Her arms were wrapped around the huge, sakura-dappled pillow that Nanase had made for her, calling it Ranka's 'substitute sakura-hime', referring to Alto's most famous Kabuki role. She appreciated her friend's gesture, and loved the massive pillow both because it was wonderfully squeezable, and for what it represented.

As she woke up, she became more aware of her surroundings. She became aware of the second pair of arms wrapped around the pillow, the hands that were pressed to her belly, and the leg that crossed hers at the ankle. She opened one eye slowly, and was not surprised to see the pink locks of Sheryl's hair on the other side of her body pillow. Her mind was still moving slowly, so her gradual thought processes confronted the idea of Sheryl sharing her pillow.

Part of her was upset, for this was her pillow. Sheryl got Alto almost every night; Ranka should at least get to keep her pillow to herself. Another part empathized, for she knew her fellow singer missed their boyfriend just as much as she. Another part analyzed that thought, and decided that calling Alto 'their' boyfriend was right, for whoever he ended up with, right now he belonged to the two of them. Only one might win, but they were the only two in the race. A separate thought took up that thread, and thought about what Klan had told her. Did there have to be a winner? Could they both win? What would that entail? Her mind drifted to Sheryl's warm hands on her tummy, on the smooth leg that even now shifted up and crossed hers at the thigh. What if it were Alto, and not her pillow, that lay between them right now? What would it be like to wake up like this every day, entwined in the limbs of her love and her best friend? Sheryl's hands shifted, one drawing Sheryl's body closer to the pillow, and the other sliding down and back to grip Ranka's rear. The vernette came completely awake now, lifting her head slightly, but her bedmate was still asleep. Ranka was beyond embarrassed, her cheeks flushing and her eyes wide, but she didn't get up, not yet. If they were to make this work, this was something she would have to deal with.

She lifted her head a little more, looking at the rosette intently. Sheryl Nome was beautiful; there was no doubting that fact. The Galactic Fairy had a pretty face and a body that Ranka envied, with lush curves and almost translucent, pale skin. Her hair was gorgeous and exotic, and Ranka knew if the woman opened her eyes they would sparkle like gems. Ranka felt plain and dull next to her rival, and yet her rival saw something in Ranka that she herself rarely saw. Perhaps that was why they had been able to carry this on for so long. Sheryl adored Ranka, not Ranka Lee the idol, but shy, nervous Ranka who sang that day in Formo. And Ranka had come to love Sheryl, not Sheryl Nome, but the wild, outspoken, yet fragile and needy Sheryl, the girl who still had nightmares about the slums and clung to Alto in her sleep. Ranka was coming to realize that losing Alto might break her rival, just as much as it would break Ranka herself. Ranka had always sung to Alto. Now Sheryl did too. With these thoughts in her head, the singer lay her head down and closed her eyes. Nudging Sheryl's hand slightly higher, so that it rested on her back instead of her bottom, she went back to sleep.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Klan Klan (what in Breetai's name were my parents thinking when they named me?) climbed down slowly from the cockpit of her Valkyrie. She still hadn't fully gotten used to piloting the fighter, as the Queadlunn-Rau was much more intuitive, though considering some of the zentran and meltran who operated them, she supposed that was a good thing. And she understood that the VF-25 was worlds better than the previous generations of fighters, which used more manual controls and didn't use feedback from the X-gear system. No wonder the Queadlunn was such a feared weapon in the Zentran War!

Luca Angelloni was waiting for her at the bottom of the ladder, and she cocked her head. Luca was one of Michel's closest friends, but he had had some involvement in the Galaxy plot, and Klan had a hard time trusting the young man. His role was minimal, and she knew he had been co-opted and forced into his role, and that he had tried to keep the damage to a minimum, but he should have known better than to trust anything that snake Mishima had said. Sadly, Luca was one of those people that believe the best of everyone, and was too often used by the less scrupulous. He hadn't known the ultimate goals of the conspiracy, but he had known that the military knew more about the Vajra than they were letting on. If he had let the right people know, _like his commander_, SMS might have been more prepared and Michel might still be alive.

That was probably why Luca was so solicitous towards Klan, some overbearing sense of guilt on his part. Klan accepted Luca as a friend, for he was one of Michel's special people, and she'd as soon spit on her love's grave as throw that away, but that didn't mean that she couldn't make the boy suffer from time to time.

"Good Afternoon, Commander," Luca said, and Klan gave him a good glare, just to remind him that he still wasn't off the hook. "Commander Lee would like to see you at your earliest convenience."

Ah, so that was it. There was no reason for Luca to be the messenger boy, as her plane captain could have passed on the message just as well. That meant that the Commander was using Luca as a message to Klan, deliberately putting the two of them in contact as a way of telling her to settle the matter. What he didn't realize was that the meltran had hundreds of thousands of years of nourishing a grudge in their genetic makeup, and she would not be swayed so easily. Still, it wasn't Luca's fault that the Ozma was being an interfering old pain in the ass, so she reached up and ruffled the boy's hair. "Thank you, Lieutenant," she told him, and tossed him her helmet, walking out of the hanger to the locker room and a nice hot shower.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ozma Lee was going over the patrol report (the flights were so routine that all the pilots had a generic report stored in the database that they generally only needed to add dates, times, and personnel to the form before sending it in) when there was a knock on his door. "Come in," he said, quickly browsing the document to make sure there was nothing unusual, then affixed his digital signature and sent it up the chain of command. He looked up to see the person he expected, Lt. Commander Klan, standing easy in front of the desk.

"Lieutenant Commander Klan Klan, reporting as ordered, sir!" she barked, coming to attention, and Ozma winced. He hated military formality, and Klan knew it, so that was probably her way of getting revenge for him using Luca as his messenger. Still, if she was mad at him, then she wasn't taking it out on Luca, so he could deal with her being snippy.

"Lt. Saotome gave you a good rating on the patrol, Klan, so I'll be placing you into the rotation as wing lead. We also have several new pilot recruits incoming, so I'll be using you to your full abilities."

Klan tilted her head slightly. "Anyone I know?"

"One of the backup members of Alto and Luca's aerial demonstration team at Mihoshi just reached service age and is interested in joining. We have two pilots who were enlisted in NUNS but want to transfer now that the conflict is over. And Nene is considering changing over to Valkyries, now that you're flying them full time."

Klan winced a little at that. Nene had been detailed to orbital cleanup and retrieval, which was mostly body retrieval, although she had been involved in the operations that had landed one of the manufacturing Islands as well as two of the surviving agricultural Islands. Between the scarcity of operable Queadlunn armor and Klan's reluctance to macronize, the two had been split up since landing. She couldn't blame her surviving squad mate for wanting to transfer to a position that would put the two of them back together. Still…

"Would you consider suggesting to her to back up Kanaria? I think Nene would be a better fit in the Monster than as a Valkyrie pilot."

Ozma mulled the thought over for a moment. "She is a little high strung for Valkyrie duty. And I know Kanaria wouldn't mind having someone else on call besides herself whenever we need fire support. I think that's an excellent idea, I'll speak to her later today." He paused for a moment, and then shifted mental gears. "Were you able to talk to Alto?"

The woman-child snorted inelegantly. "Yes, I talked to the poor boy. He's very torn up about the whole thing, you know."

"Anything I should know?"

Blue ponytails bounced as she shook her head. "Even if there was, I wouldn't tell you. Everything we talked about was in confidence. I suppose you could pull the voice logs…"

"Cathy already did, and password sealed them from me."

Klan grinned. "Serves you right, nosy." Her face grew a little more sober, and she said, "In all seriousness, Commander, he's not having an easy time. He loves both those girls quite a lot. And I don't think that being told that it's his patriotic duty to marry both of them would go over well. I told him to decide what's best for him, and let the girls take it from there, if they need to."

The squadron commander sighed. "I never thought that my subordinates' love lives, that _my sister's_ love life, would be discussed as a matter of colonial policy."

The blunette gave a shrug. "At least you're not responsible for Monica and Captain Wilder."

"Thank God for small favors."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Sheryl woke up lazily, enjoying the warmth of the bed. She had waited for Ranka to get home, and then had stayed up far too late after inspiration had struck and most of a song had come into her head. She was more than satisfied by the results, from what she could remember, but after a warm shower to relax her cramped muscles (she always ended up writing in the most awkward positions) she only vaguely remembered going to bed. Awareness trickled in and she realized that firstly, she wasn't alone in bed, and secondly, that Alto wasn't the one she was sharing a bed with, unless he had shrunk and had started wearing boy shorts to bed. On the heels of that thought came the realization that she had a firm grip on someone's ass, and that that someone was likely Ranka.

Sliding her hand up, which was only slightly better, as the skin of her bed-partner's back was bare, she raised her head to confirm that yes, the person she was in bed with had vernette hair. Ranka was wearing a pair of white boy shorts and one of Alto's SMS t-shirts (a rather counterculture one that she knew read "SMS hairu! shin wakusei ni iku! kyoumibukai uchuujin ni atte…soshite karera ni korosu!") that had bunched up just underneath the younger girl's breasts. Her own leg was entwined with Ranka's with only the pillow between them keeping them from being in a very intimate and embarrassing position. She drew her hand back and flopped over onto her back carefully, so as not to wake Ranka, and thought. She must have wandered into the bedroom and not realized that Ranka was already sleeping in Alto's bed. She was slightly surprised, but this was the first time in a while that Ranka had been in bed before her, so perhaps she had violated some rule that said that whoever went to bed first got Alto's bed? They had never really discussed sleeping arrangements; in a way, Sheryl was amazed that Ranka was bold enough to share a bed with Alto, but after the first time, they had just sort of gone with the flow. Perhaps they should have had a discussion before now?

On the other hand, why mess up a good thing? It had seemed to work so far, so why change now? Besides, she was Sheryl.

She was also getting cold. Ranka's pillow was a wonderful retainer of warmth, and she was feeling its loss now. That left her with the decision to roll back over and cuddle the pillow (and Ranka), or get up and put some more clothing on. She glanced at the clock, and with a start realized that Alto would be home from patrol soon. Had they really slept that late? She reached over and shook her fellow singer lightly.

"…why won't they grow, Nana-chan, yours are so much bigger…" Sheryl twitched slightly, then gave Ranka another shake.

"…but Sheryl, we're both girls…what would Alto think…" the younger girl muttered, pulling the pillow closer still. Sheryl glared down at Ranka now – what in the world was she dreaming?

Sheryl wasn't going for a third strike, so she got up and pulled on a robe, pulling a blanket over Ranka before leaving the bedroom. She wandered to the kitchen and sighed. She had no desire to make anything to eat, but she was starving. She needed to talk to Ranka and Alto about this. They were all extremely busy, and yet they had to spend time cooking and cleaning and doing laundry. While she had enjoyed the novelty of controlling what she ate, there was a reason that she had catered meals and ate at restaurants while on tour, and it was because she had no time. While a restaurant took time to serve you, business could be conducted during the course of the meal, or she could work on a song (more often than not). It was the same with cleaning and laundry. Alto probably understood to a certain degree from his upbringing, but Ranka was still adjusting to her fame, and both of them had been living middle-class lives for the last several years. Ranka especially had better things to do with her time than worry about dinner. And Alto could be spending his time with one of them. Perhaps it was a bit selfish, but it was true!

Her thoughts lead her to thinking about Alto, and to her conversation with Klan the day before. Sheryl wasn't particularly shocked by the idea, although the fact that staid Frontier was considering polyamorous marriages was a surprise. Galaxy had been a lot more metropolitan, but then, with implants and cybernetics it was possible on Galaxy to change your gender, so traditional ideas were a little further from the mainstream than on Frontier. Having never had a family, at least, none she could remember, Sheryl was a little less concerned with 'right' and 'wrong', and was a little more about keeping the people she loved close. She could admit that she wanted Ranka in her life. She had denied it in the past, and she didn't think she was attracted to girls, at least, not in general, but some part of her was drawn to the cute vernette. She was awake enough now to admit that she hadn't particularly minded waking up cuddling with Ranka Lee, although having Alto in bed with them…

Sheryl blinked a couple of times, and then blushed heavily as a series of very sensual and highly erotic images cascaded through her brain. Then she squawked and dove for the table, dragging one of the scattered notebooks and a pen with her, and began penning some new lyrics. She might not be able to actually USE this particular song, although some of Myung Fang Lone's works as Sharon Apple were probably more sensualized. Still, it was a good idea. She settled down to write, thoughts of food forgotten for the moment.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Alto returned to the apartment carrying a large bag from Nyan Nyan. It was close enough to lunch time, and he knew that Ranka was exhausted and Sheryl couldn't cook worth a darn. When he walked in, Sheryl was sitting at the table, scribbling like mad, so he took out a pork bun and put it in her free hand. She started to nibble on it absently as she worked through her inspiration, and Alto smiled and just shook his head.

He walked to the bedroom and was unsurprised to see Ranka asleep despite the late hour. The government had been running her ragged, and she was more than a little burnt out. Supposedly she and Sheryl were supposed to be preparing for a series of concerts coming up in a month or so, but unless Ranka was given some free time, there were serious doubts in Alto's mind that she would be ready. Still, if she slept too long she'd feel she wasted the day, so Alto walked over to the bed and softly shook her.

"…mmm, that feels good…oh, Alto…"

Alto twitched a little. Ranka's conscious mind might be easily embarrassed, but he had learned over the past few months that her subconscious was a whole other matter. He had considered recording her unconscious mumblings, but decided that the she might die of embarrassment if she knew half the things she said in her sleep. He sighed. There was always one sure-fire way to wake Ranka up. He leaned down and kissed her, right at the corner of her mouth, and she turned her head into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his neck. The young pilot held out a hand and started counting down, folding a finger in at a time. As he folded his last finger, Ranka's eyes fluttered open. He extended three fingers, and counted down again. As the last finger folded, Ranka broke the kiss and uttered a loud "EHHHHHHHHHH?!?"

Alto stood up and chuckled as Ranka turned red and sputtered futilely, and he walked back to the main room as she tried to regain her composure. Sheryl was watching him as he emerged, and she had her 'honestly amused' smile on, her eyes closed and a serene look on her face.

"Sleeping Beauty, again?" she asked, opening her eyes to catch Alto's nod. "It's so cute that she still gets flustered by it."

"It would be cuter if I didn't hear some of the things she says in her sleep," he replied with a sigh of resignation.

Sheryl nodded. "I was up late working on a song, and didn't realize she was in your bed when I went to sleep. When I got up and found her there and tried to wake her, she made a few comments without waking up once. Something about comparing herself to Nanase, and then something about she and I both being girls…I'm not quite sure I want to know what's going on in her mind when she sleeps."

"Repression?" Alto hazarded a guess.

The rosette shrugged. "Maybe. Although I think the source of her repression is Ozma, not herself."

"Quite true." Alto looked up at nothing for a moment. "The Commander talked to me last night, about the population ratio and the proposed solutions. Did anyone talk to you, or did I get thrown to the wolves?"

"Klan talked to me yesterday. And she said something to Ranka as well."

"Did she tell you the government wants to use us as the models and poster children for their plan?"

Sheryl blinked so hard it was almost audible. "She neglected to mention that aspect of it. Although if I was her, I probably wouldn't have mentioned it either."

"What do you think about it?" Alto's voice was quiet, but she could hear the concern in his voice.

"I think…" she paused for a moment. "I think that you, and I, and Ranka…we need to talk."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:** This thing has stuck with me, almost ten thousand words in a couple of days. If only the rest of my writing went so well.

As I said in my last AN, this is really just me clearing the mental decks. As long as the idea keeps taking hold, I'll keep writing it. I'm actually in the middle of trying to get an original story picked up as a comic, and this falls in between working on that. On the other hand, I'm waiting on my artist at this point, so I have a little free time at the moment.

As for actual story notes, not a lot this time. Oh, except the T-shirt. It says: "Join SMS! Go to new planets! Meet interesting aliens…and kill them!" It's a variant on an old, time-honored military phrase, and for the general population, could be considered rather counter culture.

Oh, and as for the pilots being added to SMS? They aren't important, but if anyone wants to come up with names and reasons for the names, I'd be happy to use them. To be honest, I feel bad for leaving Nene out to dry like that and wanted to find a way to put her back with her Klan-oneesan.

Oh, and I have a one shot that may or may not be viewed as part of the For the People universe, just one little theory on they whys of Klan's micronization problem. It's a bit angsty, but nothing horrible.

**Mini-rant:** Who comes up with some of the romanizations on wikipedia? Clan Clang? Seriously, WTF? Canaria isn't bad, although I prefer the K. But Clan Clang? It's like screaming yaoi fangirls at anime cons all over again. Its enough to make me want to drink.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka was confused. Why was it that she could deal with a sleeping Sheryl grabbing her bum and not freak out, but when Alto kissed her she practically went into shock? It annoyed her to no end, especially when she heard Sheryl ask him about "Sleeping Beauty". Was she so predictable? Wasn't predictable boring? She knew one of the things that attracted Alto to Sheryl was her impulsiveness and her mercurial temperament. She, however, was fairly even tempered, and feared that she was boring Alto.

What had happened to the Ranka that jumped into a fighter with Brera on a completely ridiculous mission to take Ai-kun home? She knew the mission was ridiculous now that she could look back on it; she was amazed that they had managed to find the Vajra home planet through dead reckoning and following Ai-kun's instincts. She wasn't interested in being a pilot like Alto or Sheryl, but she had learned enough of the math from them and from school to realize that she and Brera had beaten ridiculous odds accomplishing what they did. Maybe she had been lucky, but in the past year, her luck had been, for the most part, excellent.

She had met a man to love. She had been reunited with her brother. She had _remembered_ her brother, and indeed her whole past. She had been in a movie (and her song had recently been nominated for an award!) and that had spun into a whole singing career. She had only lost one friend to the war, when so many people lost so many. She had stopped a plot to take over the whole galaxy with just the power of Sheryl and her singing. All this had happened so fast, sometimes it seemed like a dream. No, her luck had been amazing recently.

Maybe this whole idea of sharing Alto was her luck happening again?

She knew that Alto loved both of them. She also feared that he loved Sheryl more. And she hated that she couldn't hate either of them for it. She knew she was naïve, but she wasn't completely stupid. Something had happened between the two of them while she was gone, and it had brought them closer. She knew that something like that might happen, but she still believed she had made the right choice. And Sheryl had given her another chance with Alto, despite everything that happened. That was why she couldn't hate her, because she had supported her time after time after time. Ranka had idolized Sheryl, had wanted to be like her, and she had helped her reach that goal.

Maybe there was something to that. Be like Sheryl. No, she couldn't do that, not really. She was much too shy and reserved, and she didn't have the body or the confidence to do some of the things that the Galactic Fairy would do. But maybe…maybe she should try to think a little more like her? Try to be a little more spontaneous?

If only she had some time! She was so busy and so tired all the time. If it wasn't something for school, it was something for the government. If it wasn't something for the government, it was an appearance or a promotion or a rehearsal.

The thought hit her with an almost physical force. What would Sheryl do if she was in this situation? She'd run off for a few hours, or completely disrupt the school with some crazy idea that generally killed two birds with one stone, or she'd say she had enough and cancel anything that didn't have her interacting directly with her fans. Sheryl never disappointed her fans. She did everything for the people.

For the people. Ranka's eyes went wide, as realization crashed in on her. She had vaguely heard Alto and Sheryl talking in the next room, and the words "poster children" had stuck in her mind in the background as something to ask them about once she got dressed. She had seen how the government had used her, used her image and her song, telling her about duty and how she was the only one. The might have been right, but they had manipulated her, and it was something she watched out for very carefully now. It was one area that her naivety had left her. And now they were doing it again. And as much as she hated being manipulated, another part of her didn't care, because all she wanted was to be with Alto forever.

She unconsciously echoed Sheryl's earlier sentiment. They really needed to talk.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Sheryl Nome was not the same woman who had arrived on Frontier all those months ago. She would freely admit that, at first, she had been teasing Saotome Alto, greatly enjoying his reactions to her flirtations and taunts. The first time she kissed him was purely a lark; if pressed she would admit that she had actually done it more for Ranka than anything, hoping to prod the girl into action by taking on the role of Mao. She found it extremely odd that she had prompted Ranka to play her grandmother, Mao Nome, but no more odd than the fact that she had since learned that her grandmother and Ranka's mother had been colleagues. And that Grace (that bitch!) had worked with them as well.

But the kiss had been no more than a game to her. She had kissed actors before, and none had really impacted her. Indeed, if she had left Frontier as she was supposed to have, she would likely have forgotten about Alto, although forgetting Ranka in such circumstances would have been less likely, as the girl's musical career would have soon equaled hers.

Then she had learned of the attack on Galaxy, and her whole life had changed.

She had selfishly drawn on Alto's strength in those first few days. He was there, and he was willing to be strong for her. She had drawn on him, and then teased him mercilessly. Her initial trip to Mihoshi had been whimsy, as well, something to pass the time, although the idea of having friendly faces around appealed to her and she probably would have stayed no matter what.

And then they had gone flying. Forget the whole panty incident; it was well worth every gram of trouble for those moments in Alto's arms, flying. She had fallen in love with flying right then and there, the wind in her face, the feeling of being free from gravity, looking out over everything from on high. Sharing that feeling with Alto was really what started her falling for him, although she hadn't recognized it right away. She had begun to realize that there was something to the boy, and she was selfish again, and wanted to keep him close. That kiss she had shared with him started to linger in her mind, for while she had kissed more than one handsome boy on a whim or for a role, she didn't stay around to grow attached to them. Suddenly, things had started to change.

And then there was that horrid trip, that relief concert to Galia 4. It had started out so well for her, offering Alto a chance to fly in a real sky, giving him a gift that no one else could. Then things fell apart. Falling ill as Grace began shorting her medication. Being held hostage, then being rescued, then evacuating with Michel as the planet disappeared behind them. Fearing for Ranka's life. She hadn't even had time to be worried about Alto before he was coming to her rescue again.

The hospital had been the turning point, she knew. Singing for Alto, competing with Ranka…that had been the moment, truly, that she had decided to claim him. Even through her illness, as she got worse and worse, that had been her bright point, remembering the look on Alto's face. It was that moment that Saotome Alto was off the market, and it was going to be either herself or Ranka that won him.

Now there was a chance that they both could win, though. Sheryl knew she wasn't going to lose. He would have said the words, and meant them, before riding off to that last, desperate battle, but she hadn't let him. She knew what he would have said. She thought that it was incentive for him to come back, to find a way to live, if only to not let her have the last word. And as far as she was concerned, it had worked. She just hadn't quite expected Ranka Lee to come storming back onto the scene.

She also honestly hadn't expected to still be alive at this point. Knowing she was dying had caused her to rethink her whole life, and she didn't want to die without being hopelessly, completely, ridiculously in love. She had thrown away her barriers and embraced loving Alto, tempered only by her desire not to hurt him with her death. She had kept him at arms length while she wanted nothing more than to throw herself at him and hold him forever.

Ranka had saved her life, but her heart was already lost. She had given it fully to Alto, and it was a mixture of confidence, gratitude, and adrenaline that had her agreeing to compete with Ranka for Alto's love. She probably had been celebrating a little too much when they decided to live together, all three of them. She was also surprised that neither of them had taken him to bed in the aftermath of the victory. Despite her words to Klan, she had considered it more that a few times, and only Alto's sense of honor had stopped them at one point.

And now here they were, the three of them, sitting on a bench behind the concert hall. It was inevitable that they would go someplace that had significance to Alto and Ranka, as most of the spots she and Alto found special were gone with Island 3, and the few that remained in Frontier City were very public. She was feeling more than a little put out, but the concert hall was special to her too, because Alto had brought her earring back to her there (even if he had lost it!). Next time they needed to talk, though, she swore they were going to go to that emergency shelter.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Alto stood, his back against one of the rails, looking at his loves. He had continued to think about what Commander Lee and Lt. Commander Klan had said, and had focused on the girls as they walked through the city to their destination.

Of course, the three of them walking anywhere attracted attention, and after a few blocks a little girl had stepped up and asked for an autograph – from all three of them! After the first, quite a few people had stepped up, asking for autographs, or pictures, and after about five minutes, Klan had showed up with a micronized Nene in tow and had quickly corralled the crowd and allowed the three to hop a taxi to continue on their way.

It surprised Alto occasionally to see little Klan take charge like that, but with the rather intimidating Nene (and thank you for small favors that the shy meltran hadn't actually had to do anything except stand there and look tall) and the SMS jacket Klan wore (with the name Braun still on the pocket), the pair did quite well. SMS carried a lot of weight in Frontier City right now, and Klan had mentioned as they climbed into the taxi that SMS was expanding to capitalize on that fact.

That was good, because since in the eyes of the people SMS could do no wrong, the government was leaning heavily on SMS to do more than their fair share. It was one of the things that ate up so much of Alto's time, and he was either on duty or on call so often that he hadn't had a drink since the celebration after the victory over Galaxy. He wasn't a heavy drinker by any stretch of the imagination, but there were a few times he could have used a little relaxing, and unfortunately since he could be needed to fly at almost any moment, drinking was out.

He realized his mind was wandering, and he looked at Sheryl and Ranka again, and his heart, not for the first time, almost skipped a beat. They were both so beautiful. Sheryl was classically pretty, but Ranka had such a good heart that it transformed her and made her cute into stunning in his eyes. He had made up his mind what he wanted to do, but as Klan had said, it was up to the girls.

"Sheryl," he said, and she looked into his eyes. "Ranka," he said, and she followed suit. "I'm not always good at talking about my feelings. It's easy to say things in the midst of battle, or getting ready to ride off to battle, and you don't want to hold anything back for fear of never getting to say something." Both girls nodded in agreement, they understood the feeling well. "I've been thinking about things over the last day, ever since I heard about this idea the government has." He took a deep breath. "I don't care what they want from us; I don't really need or want their approval. I'd live with you both forever, if that was the only way we could be together." He watched as both girls gasped, and their eyes went wide. "I love you both, and I don't want to try and choose between you. Maybe that's a bit of cowardice on my part, but I don't want to hurt either one of you, and choosing will hurt both of you, because you both care so much for each other. I can't do that to you. So I leave it up to you. Both of you need to think, because I know that it's harder to be in your position than mine. Some people may look down on you for our relationship. We'll be used as symbols. There are people who will think that the whole thing is unfair to both of you. I'm willing to face all that, because I don't care what the people say. I live my life in my way." He took another deep breath. "I can only ask you to consider all this, and decide if you can live with a marriage between the three of us. It doesn't mean we'll get married tomorrow, or even in the next month, but that we'll stop dancing around each other and decide the direction we'll take, one way or another." Both girls seemed to be near tears, and Alto felt more than a little drained. He stood up straight, and walked over to where they were sitting, then leaned down between then and kissed Ranka on the cheek, and then Sheryl. "I'm going to take a walk around the forest loop, and give you a little time to think, and then both of you can say what you think. Okay?" He straightened back up, and Ranka dabbed at her eyes while Sheryl blinked rapidly to clean her own tears, refusing to be seen crying even by them. It was a silly thing, but one of the things he loved about her. They both finally nodded, and he walked off into the forest to give them a chance to think, and maybe to talk.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Sheryl sat watching Alto walk away, before the cleaning lapsed into silence and the two of them sat there, thoughts whirling, although neither said anything. She was impressed by Alto's willingness to speak his mind and let them know where he stood. It was mostly what she had expected, but to actually hear him say it was something else entirely. Finally, she said the only thing that came to mind.

"Wow."

Ranka's head spun toward her, her hair flying up in that adorable way it had when the girl was surprised, and Sheryl looked toward her. There was confusion in the vernette's eyes, and something else…maybe hope? She had one of those moments of clarity and realized that Ranka knew, just as well as she did, just as well as Alto did, that if it had come down to a choice up until right now, Sheryl would win. Of course, nothing was that simple, and Sheryl had a feeling that if she forced the matter after Alto's most recent revelation that she, not Ranka, would lose. Whoever forced the choice would be making him hurt them, and that would tip the balance. She had a feeling that Ranka understood this as well; she knew that she and Alto had talked about her running away and her apparent betrayal of everyone, and how he felt about betrayal. This would be just a different form of it, and they all knew how he would react.

So she could drop out of the race, or accept Ranka as part of the deal. The only other alternative was that Ranka couldn't deal with the concept of sharing him forever, and dropped out herself.

Her mind whirled with the possibilities. If Ranka left, that would likely be the end of her career. At this juncture of her life, Ranka sang for Alto, and losing him would cripple her ability. She would recover, with time, but Sheryl thought that it would take longer than the fickle public would remember, although she could be mistaken. She understood motivation, and despite the comparisons, Ranka was no Lynn Minmay. That luminary had been well known for love of a pilot (why else write a song about it?) but had survived him choosing another and had done well for herself for quite a few years. Ranka would come apart, and putting the pieces back together would be a long, drawn out affair.

If Sheryl dropped out of the race…she'd have to leave. Everything about Frontier reminded her of Alto, and only by going far, far away did she stand a chance of getting it back together. Where would she go, though? Earth, maybe? That would be a horribly long fold, until they got the Vajra-fold drives fully up and running. She wasn't really up on all of the colonial fleets; the only think she could remember off the top of her head was that Macross 11 spoke English, so that wasn't a viable choice, as her music would be marginalized there, if she could bring herself to sing.

She didn't want to leave. She loved Frontier, she loved the people; all her real friends, the people who cared about Sheryl, not Sheryl Nome, were here. This was her home, more than Galaxy ever had been.

She looked at Ranka, and realized once more that she had enjoyed holding the smaller girl in her arms. She wasn't sure if that meant that she liked girls, or just liked Ranka, but if she went forward with this, it didn't matter. Sheryl Nome did nothing by half measures, and if she was going to love Ranka Lee and Saotome Alto, she would love the both with every fiber of her being.

Looking at it that way, the decision really wasn't hard at all.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka stared at Sheryl after her exclamation, but no further words were forthcoming. She knew she must look like a mess, eyes full of tears and her lips trembling. She wasn't sure what she was feeling, as her heart swirled with joy, fear, hope, relief, worry, and a host of other emotions.

Alto loved both of them.

He had said it before, of course, but this was truly the first time that the reality of it hit Ranka. He was willing to marry either of them, or both of them. For a girl just shy of her seventeenth birthday, that was heady knowledge. Someone felt so strongly for her that they were ready to spend a lifetime with her.

Of course, it wasn't so simple. She could have everything she wanted, but she had to share it. She had talked a lot with Alto about her time away from Frontier, and she understood how he felt about it. This was an all or nothing situation. She could have Alto and Sheryl, or nothing at all.

Ranka was accused more than once of being an idealist. She saw the best in people, but in this case it was tempered with reality. Alto was stubborn and shy, and he was on occasion arrogant. Sheryl was very arrogant, although she could back it up most of the time, and was wildly impulsive, as well. She knew what both of them were like, but she thought that being around them made her a better person. She wanted both of them in her life.

Could she share Alto? It was a simple idea, but the doing would be so much harder. It would push her in new directions, and probably stress the heck out of her at times. But if she didn't share him, she would be giving up…everything. Alto was her courage, and she needed him like…that wasn't quite right. Without him, the world would be dark and grey. He was the color, the joy in her life.

Ranka wasn't sure she really had a choice. Her lot was cast from the moment she had met Saotome Alto. She would just have to find a way to make this work.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Nene Rora was worried about her commanding officer. Was that even the proper term for Lt. Commander Klan anymore? They hadn't actually been on a mission together since planetfall, and Klan had transferred to Valkyries. That was one of the more troubling factors right now. Klan had flown Mikhael's fighter during the last part of the final battle after her Queadlunn-Rau was smashed (again), and she had pretty much stuck to flying it since. It had taken some damage in the battle, but her commander had insisted that the blue G-model VF-25 be completely repaired. Since then, Klan had been steadily growing a little more obsessive with each passing week.

She looked over the blunette as they walked through the city, taking their time returning from a 'rescue Ranka and Sheryl' trip. It was almost funny; usually Klan didn't have to be on bodyguard duty while the two were with Alto, since he was SMS personnel as well, but apparently he had garnered a few fans and had had just as much attention as the other two. Nene supposed that if you were the person who fired the shot that ended the threat of the Galaxy conspiracy, you might be a little popular. She didn't usually worry about things like that; it wasn't really her lot in life. Actually, she was usually the one that people worried about; she wasn't exactly the most skilled or outgoing person, which was why it was strange for her to be worried about Klan. But she was, and for good reason. Klan was changing herself to fill a Michel-shaped hole in her life, and it wasn't healthy. She looked at Klan again and shook her head at the manner in which she was dressed.

Cutoff, oversized uniform pants from Mihoshi Academy, held up with a purple belt, a royal blue t-shirt with pink neck ribbing and a vertical bar of pink offset to the right side of the shirt, her standard headband, a pair of broken glasses hanging from a necklace, and Mikhael Braun's SMS jacket. Nene knew she had gotten the pants from Alto, who had retrieved them from Mikhael's effects.

The rosette understood Klan's feelings, and her desire to not let the memory of the man she loved die, but she thought that her friend and commander was taking it too far. Klan was a proud meltran warrior. She was a fantastic pilot and had risen quickly through the ranks despite the fact that neither of her parents were particularly exceptional people. Her mother was a navigator on one of the big battleships and her father an operator for an assault carrier before they joined a colony and had Klan, and neither had come from a distinguished bloodline. Nene herself was from a much more prominent family; her grandmother had come from the Fallyna crèche, had been in the same training cadre as the famous Miria Fallyna Jenius, and had flown with her during the Zentran-Human war. Nene knew she was a disappointment to her family line, but she wasn't really cut out to be a warrior. She had a meeting with Commander Lee later on in the day on that topic, and Klan had been hinting that he had a big idea. She hoped so, she wanted to stay near Klan, especially if she continued down this troublesome path, but she wasn't cut out for Valkyries; only the superior control and maneuvering systems of the Queadlunn had allowed her to survive the war.

She sighed as she trooped after Klan, who was extremely hyper for some reason, probably because some busybody plan was going well. Sometimes, her commander drove her crazy.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

"I'm not giving him up."

Ranka's words brought Sheryl out of her musings. She had been thinking about the song she was working on earlier, and thought she might have an idea for the melodic line. She stored the idea, figuring that if the melody was compelling enough to sell, then it would be compelling enough for her to remember. Besides, this was more important.

She put one of her best 'playful Sheryl' faces on and faced Ranka. "Ah, I thought you might say that. I guess the thought of having us both must have been too much for you to turn down. Please be gentle with me." She batted her eyes at Ranka and watch as the girl's face turned an alarming shade of red.

"EHHHHHHHHHHH?!?" Ranka sputtered for a moment, seemingly flustered beyond words. "Mouuuuu…Sheryl, that was not a nice thing to say!"

She laughed freely, the sounds of her amusement ringing like little bells. "I'm sorry Ranka-chan, I couldn't help it. You look so cute when you get flustered!"

Ranka's face wore a pout. "I don't think it's funny. I've been worried over here, and you…you're just playing around!"

Sheryl's expression changed to a much more serious one instantly. "I'm not playing, Ranka. I love Alto. I'd do anything for him, because he's all that I have. I thought that teasing you would make you a little more at ease. I know that we're dealing with something that's serious, but it's also something we should try to have fun with. That's what love is all about, after all."

The vernette nodded. "I know, I know. I've just so nervous. If someone told me a year ago that I'd be thinking about marriage by now, I'd have blushed and giggled and said they were crazy. If someone told me that I'd be sitting with _Sheryl Nome_, talking about marriage and boys and love, I'd have said it would never happen. That I'm here, talking with you about sharing a husband? I keep thinking it's got to be some strange dream. Sometimes everything from that day in Formo seems like a wonderful fantasy…except for all the parts that were a nightmare."

Sheryl nodded. "I feel similar. If you told me that I would be thinking about settling down and getting married, instead of being on tour and reaching for the next goal…I'd have laughed. I wasn't interested in settling. Now I am."

Ranka nodded. "Things have changed so much." She seemed to shift mental gears. "Did I tell you I got a letter yesterday? They gave it to me when they picked me up after school, and I read it on the way to my first meeting."

"A letter? An actual paper letter?" Sheryl was surprised, sending actual mail was almost prohibitively expensive; almost all communications were by electronic file these days. For someone to have sent a letter was extraordinary.

"Yes, it came all the way from Eden!" Ranka blushed. "The end of our 'concert' during the last battle could be picked up by anyone with a fold-com system, apparently anywhere in the galaxy." Shock crossed Sheryl's face. "We were linked into the Vajra network, canceling out Grace's influence…in any case, I got a request from Eden for a copy of a complete recording of us singing, along with anything else we're willing to send."

The rosette cocked an eyebrow. "And who would send us a letter to request that?"

"A lady named Myung Dyson…I think she used to be Myung Fang Lone."

Sheryl had heard the expression 'you could knock me over with a feather' before, but had never actually felt that way, until now. The heart behind Sharon Apple, one of her biggest musical influences, listened to her music? And wanted to hear more of it?

"Did she say anything else?"

Ranka nodded. "She said it was the first time she had gotten her husband to listen to anything beside Fire Bomber in years…apparently he decided that anyone who flew a VF-19 and played music had to be the greatest musician ever, whatever that means. And she can't stand Basara Nekki. Her letter was overflowing with thanks; I can let you read it later if you want."

"Yes, please."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka had regained her mental footing. She stood up, moving to face her fellow singer. "Sheryl, I know I'm young and silly sometimes. I know things will be hard some days. But we've had so much fun together, too. And together, there's nothing that we can't do!" She leaned down and wrapped her arms around Sheryl's shoulders, hugging the girl gently. "You're one of the best friends I could ask for. You've done so much for me. I loved Sheryl Nome from the first time I heard you sing, but I learned to love who you really are. I…I don't know if I can love a woman. I don't know how that whole part of it will work out. But…but I want to try…I don't just want it to be Alto and his two wives. If this is going to work, it needs to be Ranka and her husband and wife, and Sheryl and her husband and wife, too!"

Sheryl raised her hands and wrapped them around Ranka. "Oh, Ranka, you may be young and silly sometimes, but your heart is so big. Thank you for giving me a place in it. Maybe Alto isn't all I have. I have you, too."

The two girls basked in the moment, letting the quiet surround them for a little while. Then Sheryl started to chuckle, and Ranka opened her eyes and stepped back, letting her arms fall, and looked at the rosette.

"What are you laughing at?" she asked, and Sheryl raised her hand and pointed up in the air. A paper airplane of a familiar style was flying on the breeze, and Ranka had to giggle as well. "Where does he find the paper half the time?"

Sheryl shook her head. "No idea. But I think that's a sign that he's bored. Come on, Ranka, let's go find our man and tell him he's stuck with both of us."

Ranka smiled a brilliant smile, her whole body feeling light and overjoyed. "'Kay!"

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:**

I have a hard time writing slang and onomatopoeia for this story, because I can 'hear' the Japanese slang in my head. I couldn't find anything that worked other than "Mouuu" at one point, and I really, really wanted to use "Un!" at the end of the chapter. I've been running into this issue to a lesser extent in my original work, and haven't found a good way around it. I don't want to throw tons of Japanese into this story, as it's not written in Japanese (last chapter's T-shirt being a notable exception). It will pop up from time to time though; its not like you watched an English language version of this, so you should know a little of what to expect.

I love Klan as a character; she's one of my favorites. I love the dichotomy of her physical existence, and it has to affect her mental state as well. Read "Klan's Curse", my drabble fic, for a little better insight into how and why I'm writing her as I am. She's definitely troubled, stuck somewhere in the 'denial' phase of grief.

I'm sticking to 5-6000 word chapters for now. No idea how many chapters this will be, just yet. Just because they have come to some kind of understanding doesn't mean they are out of the woods just yet. More drama yet to come.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Elmo Kridanik considered himself a lucky man. First, he had happened across Ranka Lee singing a street concert in Formo, and managed to, through some effort, convince her and her brother to let him be her agent. After a few false starts, he managed to get her a bit part in _Bird Human_, where her natural talent quickly appealed to the director, and when one of the supporting actresses was in an accident, his girl was in place to take over. Ranka's career took off, and suddenly he was the manager of the Next Big Star.

Then disaster, at least on a personal level. Ranka's ability to affect the Vajra made her a valuable individual, and he was replaced by someone that was more in line with the government's way of thinking. And he knew that that Grace person wasn't good for Ranka, she was manipulative and self-serving – look how she dropped poor Sheryl! Then, Elmo's luck turned around again. Sheryl Nome was now without an agent, and after a little work, started singing again, doing more intimate appearances, with Elmo as her agent. She quickly recovered, and those venues would have quickly built up into something big again, when fate interceded and put her on the front lines of the final battle of the Human-Vajra war.

Suddenly, Sheryl was big news again, and then Ranka returned to Frontier, and both Grace O'Conner and that government weasel Mishima were out of the picture. Elmo approached Ranka and she was thrilled to have him back as her manager, saying that she would have been happy with him the whole time.

Now, Elmo was the agent for quite possibly the two biggest stars in the galaxy. He was still getting fold-com messages from all over, from colonization fleets flung far and wide, all asking if Ranka and Sheryl were going to do a tour, and would they consider coming to their colony? After a few months you'd think the hype would die down, but sales of song files had continued to soar, to the point where the only modern artist who had outsold the pair was the legendary Lynn Minmay herself! He needed to sit the two girls down and have a long talk with them, because for the most part, they were unaware of what had been going on! Ranka was extremely busy between school, acting as the intermediary between the Vajra and the government, and the occasional appearance, and Sheryl was throwing herself fully into her schoolwork, as well as doing charity appearances and a few club gigs with a short set of her slower songs. The whole colony, for the most part, was busy trying to get settled and get food production started outside of the surviving Islands, and hadn't been paying much attention to what was happening in the galaxy at large. The government knew, of course, and the military, but Ranka and Sheryl's status as stars was probably low on the list of concerns.

Elmo, on the other hand, was very aware, and while his contract with both of the girls was fairly modest, about four percent, the shear volume of sales recently meant that he was rapidly becoming rather rich. This actually bothered him, to a certain extent. He knew that his way of thinking was naïve, but to him, it had always been about the music. _Deculture_. Ranka and Sheryl both had a gift, and Elmo saw his job as helping as many people as possible to experience that gift. That was why he worked with artists like Tokugawa, who was trying to create music out of the roots of zentran culture. While the zentran struggled in his efforts, Elmo thought that his mission was a good one, and he gave his fellow zentran his full effort in promoting him.

Elmo believed firmly that there was no such thing as bad publicity.

The fact of the matter was, though, that the girls needed to do some kind of tour. With the new fold drives using the Vajra crystal coming out, they could do tours like musical groups did back on pre-contact Earth, a different city every other night! A month or two and they could hit most of the major colonial fleets and all the colonies, and the girls would be the biggest stars, ever! The whole galaxy would know the music of Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee!

He just hoped he could convince them to do it.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

With a sigh, Cathy Glass set aside the latest report on the colony. The government was a mess; between purging people associated with the Galaxy plot and the losses from the last battle, there were gaping holes in the government structure, as well as the military high command, even now. The people didn't know who to trust, and holding an election when the people were more concerned with surviving was difficult, never mind the fact that there weren't any solid candidates. Most of her father's senior cabinet members were dead or part of the plot, and the legislature was mostly made up of yes-men and representatives beholden to the various corporate entities. She supposed that was business as usual for government, but right now they needed a strong leader.

She suppressed the urge to growl. After the end of the war, Captain Wilder would have been an ideal candidate, until the scandal with Monica Lange broke. People trusted SMS, seeing them as the force that found the real reason behind the war, and the fact that Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee, the two most popular and visible individuals in the colony, were both chasing an SMS pilot just added to their popularity. SMS also had some of the few publicly accessible zentran micro/macro tanks since the destruction of Island 3, and the group had something like a 90% approval rating with the zentran population.

The zentran were also highly upset with the government and the destruction of Island 3, and the forced micronization of the whole population. She had heard mutterings of 'Pariya's Syndrome' among the adult zentran, and what she had learned had shocked her. There were children of all ages, and the only suggestion that the doctors had was to leave the zentran children micronized until they grew up. With most of the zentran parents working in jobs that required them to be macronized, there were long lines every night for the micronization process so the parents could rejoin their children. Macronization seemed to be the key to Pariya's syndrome; some of the research done on Lt. Commander Klan Klan had pointed in that direction, so as long as the children remained micronized, they might dodge the bullet on that issue, but they were looking at years for some of the children, and the parents were needed in their macro size to handle all sorts of work for the colony. They could assemble prefab buildings in a few days, putting them together like models, where a micronized crew would take weeks. They needed more micro/macro tanks, and there weren't many on Island 1. It was a massive headache. If SMS hadn't stepped up, there was no telling what kind of mess they might have had. Parents and children separated by size for weeks or months, or face the risk of being stuck a child in their micronized form forever.

Cathy gave a sigh. She couldn't blame Captain Wilder, or Monica, and in fact the whole thing was incredibly stupid. It was the military making a big deal over something that wasn't even under their jurisdiction anymore, but their attitudes had poisoned the atmosphere around Wilder, and they would dig in their heels and fight if he were brought forth as a candidate for colonial president. Not that he wanted the job, as he much preferred being a ship captain, but she could have convinced him that he was what the colony needed. Now, it wasn't even worth trying. Damn military.

The NUNS military was another huge issue. They had lost quite a few ships and fighters, and their remaining fighters were almost all VF-171 and VF-171EX Valkyries. They had gutted their fleet of VF-11's and cost intensive VF-19's years ago, and while a handful remained on Battle Frontier, the majority that had remained were lost onboard ships that were destroyed. The 171EX was a fine space fighter, but in the words of Saotome Alto, it handled like a pig in atmosphere. It was a harsh, unforgiving craft outside of a space environment and NUNS wasn't going to risk pilots and fighters for atmospheric patrols. The two dozen VF-11's NUNS had were being used for patrols, and the half-dozen VF-19's were alert craft, ready for emergencies but otherwise only flown to keep the pilots certified, due to the high maintenance requirements for the fighters, but other than that, they had no atmospheric craft at all. L.A.I. was building more VF-25's, but the first of those were going to SMS, who knew how to use them and were willing to pay for the latest and greatest. NUNS was still hemming and hawing over the 25, and it made Cathy want to resign about once a week. If it weren't for the influence she could bring on the government and the military with her father's name, she probably would have; for now, she had more utility to the colony serving in NUNS uniform, but the day would come when she wore SMS colors instead.

Richard Birla was a godsend, in a way. He had come clean about his involvement in the Galaxy plot, confessed to his reasoning, and made no excuses. He had given control of the majority of his personal fortune over to SMS and completely severed any ties the military contractor had to Birla's shipping company. SMS now had the financial wherewithal to expand their operation greatly, and Cathy had seen the orders for enough fighters for eight more whole squadrons of twelve, replacements for all of the lost Skull and Wraith squadron fighters, plus backups; four more Koenig Monsters (which was a frightening thought) all the way from Earth, another three units of Cheyenne destroids, and all sorts of support equipment for all that metal. Birla had been released on his own recognizance (where would he go?) and the former owner of SMS seemed truly contrite. He had wanted to find the lost Megaroad-1 and Lynn Minmay, and although the methods were wrong, there was no deceit or lust for power in his mind.

And then there were the Vajra. While the mother-queen had departed, several junior queens remained. From what Ranka could tell them, the mother-queen had left to remove any temptation by the Galaxy conspirators to try again. No one knew where she had gone, which was fine with Cathy. However, the Vajra weren't going to leave Ranka and Sheryl, their two queens-who-were-not-queens (that interpretation had come from Sheryl), unprotected. There were still tens of thousands of Vajra in the hive construct (and the science boffins still weren't sure if the hive was a Protoculture structure taken over by the Vajra, or a Vajra construct that the Protoculture then emulated) and they were still wary of humans. The colonists, and especially the government, were worried about doing something to offend the Vajra and renew the conflict, and so Ranka was needed to consult about every little thing, and the girl was near her breaking point. Ozma was ready to start kicking some ass, and it was a good thing that she was into her second trimester and was horny as hell, because sex seemed to be the only thing that distracted him.

Cathy chuckled, her pregnancy had gone rather well, and she hadn't had any bouts of morning sickness, much to Bobby Margot's chagrin. She got motion sick, true, but she hadn't had one problem with morning sickness, and delighted in indulging some of the more bizarre cravings she had developed recently in front of Bobby, often turning his stomach. Okay, so Tabasco covered Natto was probably extremely foul to anyone who was not pregnant (Monica seemed to like it, too), but she didn't think someone with Bobby's skin tone could actually look green like that. And she didn't know where Monica had found the recipe for something called a Chupaqueso, which was crispy fried cheese filled with cheese, wrapped up like an oversized egg roll, but it was good! And high in calcium.

She gave another sigh and dove back into her paperwork. Maybe she would push Wilder into running for president anyway. Preferably before all this paperwork drove her over the edge.

Maybe she should have been an idol singer.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

The _Macross Quarter_ bridge operators were enjoying a rare day off. Once Alto and Klan's patrol had returned, SMS had a 36-hour down time from patrol, which the crew was using to do some preventative maintenance on the radar and com systems. With those major systems shut down, the Captain had decided to go on a minimal watch, with Captain Bobby drawing the short straw and being stuck on watch for the first shift. The girls had quickly changed and were now wandering around FrontierCity, which was mostly repaired at this point.

Despite their closeness on the bridge, the girls didn't often hang out together. Their schedules didn't often give them time off together, and they had different interests. Mina was quiet and often spent her free time reading, while Ram loved surfing the net and finding new things. Monica had been taking cooking classes and was working toward getting her Operator's license, which was the next step on her quest to get certified as a ship commander. The redhead wanted to be her Captain's executive officer as well as his wife. Mina and Ram both thought she was a little crazy, but Monica was happy, so it was her business.

They had stopped in at Nyan-Nyan for lunch, mostly to talk to Saotome's friend Nanase. The plunette was always up on the newest gossip about Alto, Ranka, and Sheryl, since she was friends with all three, and Monica could usually find something to appease whatever craving popped up.

"Nihao, welcome to Nyan-Nyan!" Nanase called when they walked in, giving the standard greeting. She liked the SMS operators; they were the ones who helped keep Luca and Alto safe, something she truly appreciated. They were all wearing casual clothes with SMS jackets on, and as she led the trio to a table several people, including an obvious zentran family, turned and thanked them as they passed. All three looked a little embarrassed, and the waitress almost laughed.

"Do you know what you want today?" she asked as they settled, and the plunette and rosette looked to the redhead. Nanase couldn't remember their names right off the top of her head, her memory was still a little spotty from her injuries months ago. She still couldn't actually carry the food out to her tables, but the manager liked her, and her physical charms made up for her limited ability, as far as customer service was concerned, so he considered it a wash.

Monica noticed both the other girls looking at her, and said "What?" They both giggled, and she sighed. "I'll have an order of pineapple buns and tuna buns, and some of that plum sauce on the side, and some tea."

"That was almost tame," Mina commented, and Ram nodded.

Monica shrugged. "I've got some wasabi ice cream in the freezer at home," she said, and both girls grimaced.

"Weird cravings?" Nanase asked, and all three nodded, before – Monica! That was her name! – shot her companions a betrayed look. "Ranka said that Cathy is doing the same thing, something about Tabasco and Natto?"

"It's good!" Monica chirped, and all three stared at her incredulously. "What, it is! Okay, I wouldn't like either normally, but right now it's really good."

"I can't even stand to smell either one, and together?" Mina replied. "I suppose I'll do the same thing if I ever have children, although weird cravings alone are a huge argument against it."

Ram nodded. "Although I'm learning a lot about pregnancy watching the two of you. Did you see Captain Bobby's face when Lt. Glass started sprinkling the Tabasco on her Natto? And then you asked her to pass the bottle over! I thought Bobby could stomach anything. He's managed to make almost everyone on the ship throw up at least once with his maneuvers; seeing him brought low by Natto was funny!"

Ram and Mina gave their orders and Nanase took them back, soon returning with their drinks. As she placed them around, Monica looked at her and asked, "Anything new and exciting?"

She looked around carefully. "Have you heard anything about the new marriage laws?"

The three bridge girls were surprised; they didn't think anything had made it out to the general public. Unless…

"The government is talking to Saotome and his girls?" Mina asked. She was the smart one, after all.

Nanase shrugged. "I don't know about Alto-kun, but I know that Klan was talking to Ranka and Sheryl about it yesterday. Well, I know she talked to Ranka, because Ranka talked about it to me a little bit at lunch, and Klan was with Sheryl all afternoon in Sheryl's X-gear classes. I would assume that if she mentioned it to Ranka, she'd mention it to Sheryl too; no sense in only one of them knowing about it."

Mina nodded. "I can see why they might do that. Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee are definitely the two most well known people on the colony, and if they did it, it would be a lot more popular. And Saotome is highly regarded in his own right."

"Is the situation really that bad?" Nanase asked.

The other two bridge girls looked at Ram. She took a drink, and then nodded. "We lost most of our support fleet during the war, especially in the last battle. Something like eighty-nine percent of the ship's crews was male; NUNS is still very much a made-dominated organization. Also, most of the personnel that remained exposed on the Islands were male, while the women and children were put into shelters. Between the battle fleet and the Island crews, we lost almost 90,000 people during the war, and about 77,000 were men, and the ratio is that low only because of the civilian shelters that were hit. With the initial population skew of 560,000 women to 440,000 men, that leaves somewhere around between a three-to-five and a two-to-three ratio overall. However, among the child-bearing age, its pretty much centered at three-to-five, gutting the portion of the population that's supposed to be doing all the reproducing right now."

"How'd the population balance get so off?" the waitress asked, and the rosette operator shrugged.

"Mostly by design. The colony likes to have a surplus of women when they first start out, to attract immigration, bringing in some of the best and brightest from established colonies. A lot of soldiers settle on new colonies, too, after their term is up, because they get extra money if they emigrate to a new colony after their discharge. The colony brings in lots of fresh blood with technical skills developed outside of their education system, bringing ideas that they might not get, otherwise. Generally, the population surplus is soaked up within twenty to thirty years. We took a big hit, though, and it will take us a lot longer to recover." Ram shrugged. "It's a good idea in theory, but in practice, it's stupid; no one ever accused the government of being smart, though."

"So now they want to do this multiple spouse thing, to cover for the losses?" Nanase asked, somewhat rhetorically.

"Seems like it. And the Fairy, the Cinderella, and the Princess are right in the middle of it," Mina said.

The plunette waitress blinked. "I want to be happy for them, because they have had a rough time, recently. And they do all care for one another. But I don't think the pressure will be good for them, they already have a lot going on."

Monica gave a shrug. "I don't think the government much cares about that. They see their symbol, and will try to use it how they see fit."

Everyone grew silent at that. They all remembered how Ranka was used during the war, and how Sheryl, even though she was dying, allowed herself to be used as well. None of them wanted to see a repeat of that. But what could any of them do?

Lunch was quiet as the trio thought. No answers were forthcoming.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Alto folded a paper airplane as the girls approached. Both seemed to be in good spirits, so he hoped that they had agreed to a mutual co-existence. He shook his head. What was wrong with him? Most men would just hop right into the idea of having two beautiful women all the time. Perhaps it was that he knew that it wasn't that easy. Both of the girls he loved had strong personalities, and while Ranka was more reserved, she wasn't shy or unconfident. Sooner or later the girls would have a problem with each other, and he would be in the middle of it.

Alto felt that he was an expert on how women thought; that is to say, he was certain that men would never understand them. While he was famous in his early life as a female impersonator, he was incapable of making that last leap and truly thinking like a woman. Even Bobby Margot wasn't particularly capable of understanding women, and he was certainly effeminate at times. So while Alto was hoping that his girls could come to an understanding, and he knew they cared for each other, he had no clue as to how they would actually react.

So, the two of them smiling was a good thing.

"Alto-kun!" Ranka called out loudly, waving. He waved back, and finished the last fold of the plane. He grasped it and flung it into the sky, watching it pass between Sheryl and Ranka before swooping up, settling at an altitude that carried it into the trees. He grimaced, that was one thing about being on this planet that he was growing to dislike: the planet had just under one gee, 0.96g to be exact, and everything was heavier, and his planes didn't fly as high or as far. It was just one more reason everyone was so tired.

"Got the trees again," Sheryl said. "I think either you need a slight change to the design, or a different launch technique."

"My mother taught me how to make paper planes that way. I'll just have to figure a way to launch them harder," Alto said, and both girls just nodded. Alto's mother was one of those sacred subjects that there was no discussion or argument about. Alto had enough trouble with his family without dredging up painful memories.

He looked at the two, marveling at their differences for a moment, and then shook away his feeling of whimsy. "Since neither of you are crying, and you're both here…are we going to try this?"

Ranka and Sheryl nodded. "I love you, Saotome Alto," Ranka said, her face flaming. "I would stay with you forever."

Sheryl stepped up and gave Alto a soft kiss on the lips. "You and Ranka are my family, Alto, all that I have. You see Sheryl, and you never cared who I was, other than your friend. I would be yours, and you and Ranka mine."

Alto reached out and Ranka took his hand, and he pulled her in and hugged both of them at once, then, in a rare public display for him, kissed first Ranka, and then Sheryl, on the lips firmly, leaving them both blushing quite fiercely. They broke the clench and Alto started to walk, holding each of their hands. The wrapped their other hands around his upper arms and walked with him.

For now, at least, life was good.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ozma Lee sat in his office, looking at the young officer in front of him. Lt. Nene Rora was a good fighter, and while she was shy in public, she was a good soldier as well. Something was wrong with the tall meltran, as she was fidgeting and seemed distracted. The interview was going nowhere currently, so finally, he set his computer pad aside and sat back.

"Lt. Rora, you've been with SMS for almost two years now. You know you can talk to me about anything, and I'm not going to hammer you for it. Unless it was truly and utterly stupid, of course. What's bothering you?"

Nene looked abashed. "I'm sorry, sir. I'm just concerned, sir." She was really bothered if she was calling him sir, as she had been around long enough to learn not to use it toward him.

"Concerned about?" He thought he knew where this was going, but he'd get a better answer if he didn't prompt too much.

"It's about Lt. Commander Klan, sir. She's not dealing with Lt. Braun's death well."

"Is this about her staying micronized?"

"Yes, sir," Nene replied. "We talked about her problems with micronization, back when Raramia was still alive. I probably shouldn't be talking about it, but I think it's important, sir. She doesn't…she can't…her micron body doesn't…oh, my, this is embarrassing…she has no interest in sex. Or anything else like that, she is still a child in that form. It's not emotionless, or anything like that; everyone knows how much of a temper she can have in that form. But it's like everything is duller for her, she said, once. She said it's easier to think, but I think it's also harder for her to feel. So she's pushing aside her physical desires and hiding in her child form, which doesn't have any. But she's also changing, and she used to be proud to be a meltrandi warrior! Now she seems to want to replace Michel, and I don't think it's healthy, not at all!" Nene slumped and took a deep breath, and Ozma realized that it was the longest he'd ever heard the rosette speak in one go.

"I understand your concerns, Lieutenant," he replied. "Unfortunately, we only have two Queadlunn suits at the moment, and we need to keep one for a spare. I have six more being delivered from the 25th Deep Space Assault Squadron, and they should be here in another week or two. Once I have them, I can order Klan out on a mission which will require her to macronize. I can't do more than that without crossing the line. I can't order her to macronize except for missions, and I can't make her stay that way. I know that the Lt. Commander is having problems, but I need every body I have right now, and right now she's functional. If I push the issue, she might break down, which would be better for her, but really bad for me. I also have the issue of tank time, and while you and she have priority since you are SMS personnel, I can use both of you micronized, which frees up two timeslots each way for zentran that need them." He held up his hands as Nene looked to protest. "Nene. I know Klan is your friend. I know that she needs to grieve properly. But right now she's running on adrenaline and willpower and sheer stubbornness, and when she breaks, it will take time to put her back together, time that I don't have and can't afford right now. There are times when being in charge isn't much fun, and this is one of those times. Don't think that I'm not concerned. I am, deeply. I should order you to leave her alone on this matter, but I won't, because I'm not sure the order would be legal, and I'd feel like a shit giving it. Just be careful, and don't break one of my best pilots, alright?"

Nene looked torn, then nodded. "I understand, sir."

"In the mean time, I can try and keep you closer to her, to keep an eye on her, if you'd like. I'm in need of a backup pilot for the Koenig Monster, would you be interested?"

Nene nodded, and the two began outlining the schedule for her training. And by the time she departed, Ozma only felt like half an asshole for using her concern for her friend to convince her to do what he wanted. He really had told the truth. There were times when being in charge wasn't much fun.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Update author's notes:**

Fixed a few things in the numbers for the squadrons that were bothering me. Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, I'm really, actually working on Chapter 11. Real life has an amazing number of ways of getting in the way, and I haven't had time for writing for a couple years. Working on this is a favor for some cosplay friends of mine.

**Author's Notes:**

The Chupaqueso is property of Howard Tayler and _Schlock Mercenary (schlockmercenary dot com)_. It's pretty much what it says, cheese melted in a pan and sautéed until it becomes crispy, then filled with more cheese and wrapped like a burrito. Somewhat greasy, and can cause a heart attack almost instantly, but good. Considering some of the other things consumed by various characters in the strip, it's fairly benign. The characters, however, are not, and most are rather violent. It has some great one-liners, and often quotes the rules for successful pirates.

Natto is fermented soybeans. Smells and looks foul, at least in my opinion, and anything that smells like that will never be eaten by me. The addition of Tabasco, which is too spicy for many people brought up in a Japanese culture, should make it something that no one in their right mind would eat. Except for pregnant women, and those of my friends who have hot sauce on EVERYTHING.

The previous chapter was a lot of WAFF, but most of the ideas for this chapter sprung up only after I had most of the previous one written. The flow seems to work for me so far, so I left it.

I'm on an odd schedule, and most of this was written on Sunday. Don't expect updates until Friday or Saturday, most weeks, but I can sometimes crank two chapters in a weekend. If only my original work flowed so well.


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka, Alto, and Sheryl were walking around the plaza outside the concert hall when Ranka felt an odd, familiar sensation. Shortly after the end of the war, the Vajra mother-queen contacted her, literally dragging her into the fold-mind and the otherworldly perception that went along with it. She still wasn't quite sure why she had a green glow about her, while Sheryl was pink; Sheryl had decided that it was all based around hair color until Ranka pointed out that, first off, Brera (who could appear due to his numerous implants, including several with fold quartz) had pale green hair but a purple hue, and second, Sheryl's hair wasn't naturally pink. But whatever the reason for their appearance, the mother-queen could drag them into the fold-mind at will, which was rather disorienting, especially if you were, say, in the middle of an X-Gear exercise. Luckily, Sheryl hadn't taken off yet, but it was a close thing. While the mother-queen continued to be rather imperious about the whole thing, the junior queens that remained all considered Ranka to be senior to them, so the quickly learned to 'knock' to get Ranka's attention. It felt like someone was rubbing her belly, but from the inside. It was a rather strange feeling, and very distinctive. Ranka immediately plopped down on a bench and opened her mind, falling into the fold-mind with a now-practiced ease.

_//Yes?// _she replied. The Vajra didn't go for verbal niceties, not really understanding them, and it was mentally taxing for Ranka to talk to them over long periods.

_//QueennotVajra/Ranka happy/joyful/hopeful QueennotVajra/Sheryl joyful/hopeful/passionate QueensnotVajra Aimo QueensnotVajra/consort/Altokun//_

The Vajra didn't actually talk to her, as they didn't really have a language. They had been a hive mind for millions upon millions of years, and only a few songs remained of whatever language they had before the fold-mind had evolved. Even this knowledge was only an interpretation of what the mother-queen had told her; the mother-queen was ancient beyond reckoning but even she didn't know any language but the songs. Everything else was images, feelings, which Ranka had learned to interpret as they resonated with her own emotions. Even when they weren't singing, this close to the queens they could sense her emotions, and apparently she had caught their attention.

_//I am happy. Alto-kun has heard my song, and responds with his own. The queens-not-queens will share their consort.// _she told them, phrasing it as well and as simply as she could.

_//QueennotVajra/Ranka QueennotVajra/Sheryl hive/unity/solomind?//_

She shook her head. _//No. The queens-not-queens are still of two minds, but have set our minds to one goal.//_

_//QueensnotVajra purpose/unity/tandemmind/shared/Aimo QueensnotVajra/consort/Altokun.//_

She processed for a moment as the feeling washed over her, and then nodded. _//Yes. Does the hive need anything more?//_

_//Vajra/subset/dandiform/subset/Aikun interrogative QueennotVajra/Ranka move/meet/play soon/soon/soon?//_

Ranka giggled. She felt bad, but Ai-kun had to remain outside of the city. While the majority of the people were accepting of the Vajra after the war was over, some had lost more than others, and there was a small but vocal minority that had been very outspoken against the Vajra. To minimize incidents, the Vajra hive-mind agreed to have all members of the hive remain outside the city. It had also been discussed that putting Lt. Commander Klan and a dandiform Vajra in the same place might be a recipe for disaster, since Michel had been killed by one, and keeping Ai as far from Klan as possible for the time being was high on everyone's list. She missed him terribly, though, and usually made it out to see him once or twice a week, but it had been nine days since the last time she had seen him and he was obviously anxious. Despite being part of a hive mind, the Vajra did pick up individual quirks, and Ai-kun's behavior was one of them. The hive itself was rather perplexed by Ai's behavior; Luca had suggested that individuality might be contagious, and that prolonged exposure to humans altered the way that Vajra thought, but it was only a theory.

_//I will make an effort to see him before the sun sets,// _she replied, and she felt the abrupt emptiness as the queens severed their conversational link, and Ranka relaxed and fell back into the normal world, opening her eyes and seeing the intent faces of Sheryl and Alto.

"You could have checked on me if you were worried, Sheryl," she said.

Sheryl shook her head. "They don't like talking to me. I think they're a little stuck up."

Ranka giggled again. "You talk too much for them, and use too much emotion. You give them a tummy ache."

"Well, they give me a headache, so I guess it's mutual."

The vernette nodded. "I suppose so. Can we go see Ai-kun this afternoon? Apparently he misses me, and I miss him too."

Alto shook his head, more in resignation than denial. "I suppose we can. Couldn't I get you a kitten or something instead, though?" It was an ongoing not-quite-joke between the two of them; Alto felt uncomfortable around Ai now, for many of the same reasons they didn't let Klan near him. Alto was better able to handle his emotions, but still wasn't particularly happy during the visits. That he was willing to go despite his discomfort meant a lot to Ranka.

"A kitten isn't as cute," Ranka replied, giving her usual response, and she latched onto Alto's arm, and Sheryl did the same, and the trio went off once more, first for food, and then for a visit with Ai-kun.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

With a flamboyant and over-exaggerated sigh, Bobby Margot flopped down into the captain's chair on the bridge of the _Macross Quarter_. He was bored. He was super bored. He was super extremely stupendously bored.

Part of his boredom was his current location. As one of the few fully qualified bridge officers, he occasionally had to stand duty as conn officer. Usually, that gave him a trio of operators to talk to. However, the _Quarter_ had been stood down for 36 hours to allow for some long-needed maintenance upon the radar and communications systems. Since the radar and com systems had to be completely de-energized, two of the bridge stations were completely shut down, and the Captain had given the trio of primary operators the day off, as one person could handle the status management systems and cover for the weapons control operator, since most of the weapons were useless without the radar anyway. Mina's backup, a perfectly nice but quiet girl named Gemma, was absorbed in her duties, conferring with the maintenance crews and occasionally opening access ways and de-energizing equipment that might interfere with the maintenance. The extremely petite blonde had no time to talk to Bobby.

The vast majority of his boredom came not from his location, though, but the ship's. The _Quarter_ was still sitting on the Vajra planet (he couldn't wait for the vote, just so he had SOMETHING to call where he lived now), massive repairs being done to the cannon arm of the ship – finally – which kept the ship on planet. Bobby was a helmsman. He was one of the best helmsmen in or out of service to any of the colonial fleets, and he had been staked a healthy share in the colony as his 'signing bonus' to join SMS. He could have made more money as a make-up artist, but a stake in the colony was worth more than he could reasonably hope to make in his lifetime, unless he worked for people like Sheryl Nome all the time, and there just weren't that many galactic-scale superstars. That the Frontier colony was currently host to two of them was almost absurd. But he was a helmsman, because he wanted to be, and the ship he served on should be in _space_, not floating in a bay on a planet. He hadn't had any adrenaline rushes in weeks.

He didn't even have anyone to tease. Ozma was off limits while Cathy was pregnant, as he didn't want to know what culinary horror she might come up with next, and he certainly didn't want her to eat it in front of him. The girls were all gone for the day, the Captain was getting increasingly irritable as NUNS continued to badger him about his relationship with Monica, and the pilots were all stood down, due to the radar being inoperable.

Why did they call it radar, anyway? The information the system displayed was a combination of inputs of the radar, lidar, and fold-wave sensors, augmented by optical and gravimetric devices when applicable. It was much more complicated than regular radar, and had the ability to display information in a 3-D holobubble that gave extremely accurate vectoring information. So why did they continue to use that outmoded term?

And why was NUNS giving the Captain such a hard time? They no longer had jurisdiction over SMS, but continued to try and exert control anyway, and they continued to harass the Captain over a personal matter that was of no concern to NUNS in any case. Captain Wilder had left U.N. Spacy because he didn't want to be told how to live his life, and he had moved up from being a single-ship commander in Birla's private SMS fleet to the commander of the most powerful pocket battleship in the galaxy and de facto head of SMS operations on Frontier.

Bobby had his suspicions, of course. He knew that Cathy was convinced that Captain Wilder would make a good colonial president, a point on which Bobby agreed. The antipathy the Captain had for the NUNS high command was common knowledge, and he was sure that the idea of Wilder as their commander-in-chief was a nightmare that seemed ready to come true. Their continued harassment of the Captain was probably designed to keep him from considering a political run, but it was upsetting Monica, and at some point NUNS would upset her too much, and the Captain might declare his candidacy just to spite them.

The fact was that right now the government was a mess. The ministries tried to do their jobs, but there was no one to give direction, and with no clear successor, and a number of cabinet members involved in the Galaxy plot, or tarred by their association with Leon Mishima, there was unlikely to be anyone that would come out of that group to be a strong leader. The military was staying away from the government, for fear of being associated with the coup Mishima had staged and the assassination of President Glass. Cathy, having been assigned as liaison to SMS, wasn't under the same cloud, and while she had no official standing, she had been pushing people in the right direction and using the name Glass to get things done. But she had a 'drop-dead' date as it were; the stress was affecting her pregnancy, and she was told that the sooner she reduced her stress, the better it was for the baby. She surely didn't want to send herself into early labor or something equally traumatic, which wasn't a danger yet, but once she got into the third trimester, it would become a concern. Once she stepped back, there would be no one who could do what she did, not until they had an election.

Bobby hated politics, although he understood them fairly well. There was too much lying and double talk, which was anathema to him. He told it like he saw it, and refused to hide any aspect of his life. While it might traumatize the occasional person, he knew many saw him as a refreshing dose of honesty. Flamboyantly gay honesty, but honesty nonetheless.

He looked at the clock for what had to be the fortieth time since he came on watch. Ugh, three more hours to go.

"Gemma?"

The operator looked up from her station, momentarily stopping her work. "Yes sir?" Bobby was looking at her, and she fidgeted. "Sir?"

"I don't suppose you'd let me give you a make-over?"

Gemma blew out a breath. "I'm a little busy right now, sir." She turned back to her console and resumed her interaction with the maintenance crews.

So much for that. He really had nothing to do. Sometimes life was patently unfair.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus. Breathe in. Breathe out and hold. Squeeze…

BOOM!

Cycle the bolt, up and back, then forward and down. Realign the target in the sight; good, not too much drift. Good hit on the last shot. Breathe in. Breathe out. Focus. Breathe in. Breathe out and hold. Squeeze…

BOOM!

Klan cycled the bolt up and back, but that was the fifth and final shot from her clip. She pulled the earplugs out and pulled off the yellow shooting glasses, then looked at the range officer from her prone position. He gave her thumbs up.

"You've gotten much better. You still rush your shots, but your accuracy is good enough that in most situations, that shouldn't be too much of an issue. I know how much pinpoint fire you may need to deliver, though, and you're still not up to the level that I'd want you shooting close to me."

Klan grunted, then moved to her feet. "I understand. It's not something that I can rush, but I want to be ready if the situation arises."

The range officer nodded. "I don't know that it will be needed, but being prepared is important. I'm impressed that you're willing to come down here and shoot in the flesh. Most Valkyrie snipers are only concerned with their skills in their fighter, so they don't learn the proper mental skills."

She nodded, then cocked her head. "Did you…did you know Michel?"

"Michel? Mikhael Braun?" She nodded. "Yes, I did. He didn't come down here much once he started flying for SMS, but he understood the mental disciplines. Jessica taught him that far better than I could." A look of comprehension crossed his face. "Are you training to take his place, then?"

"I'm trying to fill his role. No one can take his place."

He nodded, seeming to understand. Nothing more was said, and Klan put the ear plugs back in, put the glasses back on, and lay back down and took up the big rifle. She dropped the old clip out and slammed a new one home, then peered through the sight. She slid the bolt forward and down, jacking the first round into the chamber. She lined up her target.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Alto sat on top of a hill, watching Ranka run around with Ai. The fact that she could still act like a child sometimes both irritated him and endeared her to him. Most of the time it was endearing, as she still approached the world with wide eyes and a certain playfulness. It irritated him only when she used it to put off or hide from a serious situation.

Sheryl sat with him, or rather, against him, her back leaning against his shins as she sat lower on the hill. He had his hand on her shoulder and her hand was on his, idly running her fingers back and forth across his. She seemed content to sit in the sun and watch Ranka play, for now.

Alto was once again struck by the dichotomy of his feelings toward Ai. As a larva, the Vajra had been cute, and he had grown to appreciate the little creature, and knew that Ranka adored him. As a dandiform Vajra, Alto saw the creature that killed Michel. He knew that it wasn't Ai that killed him, but it would always be the form of Michel's killer. But he knew it was still Ai, and Ranka loved the creature just as much. What was it about ugly pets that made girls love them all the more?

Eventually, Ai would grown and change again. What he would change into, though, no one was sure. This was apparently a branch point for Vajra, and the dandiform could evolve either into a walker, or a fighter-drone. If Ai changed into a walker, then it would eventually become a full-on 'Victor'. Alto wasn't sure that several tons of armor and weaponry, capable of shattering a cruiser, was still able to be considered a pet. Of course, the Vajra could throw everyone for a loop and change into some other form. Apparently there were aquatic Vajra, although no one had seen any yet, as they tended toward deep-water environments. Alto hoped in a way that Ai went that route, because he could then stay near the _Quarter_ and they could visit him without the danger of any of the colonial citizens finding out.

He realized that Sheryl was talking to him, and almost panicked, for any time he had ignored Sheryl, she either punished him in some way, or got huffy about it and ignored him for a while. Which was still punishment, but in a different form.

"I'm sorry," he said, hopefully with sincerity. "I was thinking about Ai, and didn't catch what you said."

Sheryl looked back over her shoulder at him, and had a bit of a pout on her face. "Is that so?"

He suppressed a sigh. "Yes, actually. I was thinking about what Ranka had told us about there being aquatic Vajra, and I hope Ai turns into one."

She looked at him with an odd expression for a moment, and then nodded. "I suppose that would be for the best. He'd be safe, and no one knows what water Vajra look like, so they wouldn't be as scared." She smiled at him. "That's sweet of you."

"I still don't understand why the two of you think he's cute."

"_Ranka_ thinks that Ai-kun is cute. _I_ think how Ai-kun acts toward Ranka is cute. There's a difference," Sheryl informed him.

"I suppose. So what were you saying?"

Sheryl blinked. "Saying? Oh, right!" She turned, leaning her elbows on his knees, and he vaguely felt her breasts rest against his legs as she leaned into him. "I was thinking about the upcoming break for school, and what we're going to do during it. I wanted to do some shows."

Alto looked at her. "'Some shows' like the nightclubs and TV shows you've been doing, or 'some shows' like 'Sheryl on Stage'?"

She took a deep breath, which pressed her breasts more firmly against him and he wished she were leaning against his arm instead of his legs, but would take what he could get. Sheryl had once told him that her breasts embodied the hopes and dreams of many fans, or something close to that. Inspired, maybe? At the time, he had scoffed because she was being dramatic, but they had since become part of his hopes and dreams, as well. He started to drift and almost missed the beginning of her reply.

"I want to do 'Sheryl on Stage' again. You're an actor, you understand what it's like, don't tell me you don't. The adrenaline rush of performing in front of all those people, having them cheer you and hang on every note…I miss it. I love singing, and I worked hard to get where I am, damn whatever that bitch Grace said. She might have pulled some strings, but if I wasn't good, I never would have gone anywhere."

He nodded. "Alright. You want to do big arenas. You realize that Frontier only has one big arena, right?"

She nodded. "I want to do three shows here for sure, I want most everyone to be able to see me. And not just me, Ranka too, I wouldn't dream of leaving her out. Some sort of hybrid show, part 'Ranka Live', part 'S.O.S.', and part…hmmm…" she sounded a bit distracted, shifting more to 'thinking aloud' than actually talking to him. "Part…well, if she's the Cinderella, and I'm the Galactic Fairy, does that make me her Fairy Godmother? I hope not, I'm not old enough to be any sort of Godmother. Hmmm…maybe a Ranka versus Sheryl vocal battle? No, we've had enough of battle, although we should work most of the medley from the last battle into our act, maybe as the finale? We could do that 'Triangle' song I'm working on, and maybe clean up our improvisation from the hospital and do a reprise of 'What 'bout My Star', but more simple, like the Formo performance. Maybe 'Sirens of the Frontier?' The government might like that, and it might help draw immigrants. Just as long as they don't think about changing that law." Alto realized that she was completely off on a tangent and had almost forgotten that he was there. "I'm really happy that I don't have to fight Ranka for Alto anymore. I don't think we could have gone too much longer without something breaking. Maybe now I can finally drag him to bed and…" Sheryl's face went pale and she looked up at Alto. "…I was thinking aloud, wasn't I?"

Alto nodded.

She paled slightly more, before shaking her head. "In for a penny, as they say." She looked up at Alto. "I'm not teasing you, and I just want you to listen. I love you, Saotome Alto, I love you with all of my being. I have wanted to take you to bed since before Ranka ran off, and if I had let you tell me you loved me that day, right before that last desperate battle, I would taken you to bed right then and there, knowing that I was dying, because I wanted to experience everything I could of being in love. And then everything worked out, and Ranka and I challenged each other, and I couldn't, I wouldn't win by taking you to bed. I thought it would cheapen my victory, having to resort to something so purely physical. But I have wanted you, and only you, for months now. I've never desired anyone like I desire you. Other men may have sparked a flame in me, but in comparison, it's like I swallowed a sun, the passion that I feel for you. And now that we've agreed to this idea, and now that we, the three of us, are going to try and be together as spouses, I don't have to hold back anymore." She let go of his knees and nudged them apart, pushing him onto his back and crawling up his body, hovering over his face, her voice growing intense. "Very, very soon, you're going to take me to bed and love me and make love to me and claim me to be yours, for now and for ever. And then you're going to do the same to Ranka, only you'll have to seduce her, because she'd probably never try to seduce you herself. And if you can't seduce her, then I'll seduce you both, because my husband and wife are going to show love and make love and there won't be any games. And you know that she's ready, deep down, because you know what she dreams of, and you know that she wants to be yours and only yours forever. Do you understand me, Alto-kun?"

He could only nod, overcome by the sight and feel and the voice of one of the women he loved. She dipped her head toward his, and their lips touched, and it was like…

Fire. Pure, molten flame and lust and need and love all poured into him through Sheryl's kiss, his brain short-circuiting as the emotions flooded his senses. Then she was gone, sitting up, and she turned to Ranka, who was approaching up the hill, Ai-kun trailing behind by several meters. Before Ranka could even form the question that seemed to be on her mind, Sheryl grabbed her waist, spun her around so she was now standing uphill of Sheryl, and with their heads now level, leaned in and kissed Ranka just as fiercely as she had Alto. He was struck by how powerful the emotions seemed, watching the expressions on both the girls faces, as Ranka first blushed, but then melted into the kiss, the kiss lasting for a good thirty seconds before Sheryl broke it, leaving Ranka in a slight daze.

"Do you both understand how I feel about this now?" she asked, and Alto saw Ranka recover somewhat and nod. Sheryl looked at him, and he nodded as well. "I understand, now. And I think that I agree with you."

"Good," the rosette said, and she held out her hands. Alto took one, and Ranka took the other. Sheryl gave Ai-kun a nod, and Ranka waved at him, and the trio set off to return home. This shared marriage might be tough, but Alto realized that there were benefits he hadn't really thought through yet. He was sure that Sheryl and Ranka would be happy to help him figure them out.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Deputy Minister Ebata Yuuichi was stressed. Normally, Yuuichi was responsible for resource conservation and replenishment, which meant that, now that Frontier was on a planet and the colonization fleet was no longer a closed system, his duties were now superfluous. However, he was one of six surviving Ministers not implicated in the Galaxy plot, and the senior of those six, which technically made him the senior civilian member of the government.

Yuuichi didn't want the job.

He had come up through the ranks as an environmental engineer, and moved into administration because he actually had a good grasp of what needed to be done to keep the colony going. Without his efforts, Frontier would likely have died in space from lack of oxygen or food. Thankfully, in his eyes, very few people knew this, partially through his efforts, and partially because Leon Mishima was a glory-hog who wouldn't share credit with anyone anyway. Also thankfully, no one was really turning to him to try and keep the government running, and so the six ministers ruled by committee and tried to do the right thing. What was needed, though, was a strong executive.

Actually the colony needed a lot of things. NUNS had been all but ineffective for the first part of the Vajra-Human war, and now they were digging their heels in about all sorts of ridiculous things, and generally being un-cooperative. They wouldn't rebel, but they didn't make things any easier. The colony needed more micro/macro chambers, badly. The colony needed fresh blood, and they needed this divisive multiple spouse law. The colony needed direction.

Ebata Yuuichi knew where he could find a lot of those things. His idea for a candidate for president would be fresh blood, relatively speaking, for he wasn't a member of the government, or of NUNS. And he knew for a fact that Cathy Glass liked the idea. Of course, his candidate would hate the idea, but that was what made him even more ideal. He himself had been promoted to cabinet minister despite wanting to continue to work on the environmental plants. His candidate would rather be a ship captain than a president. Besides, a wise man had once said anyone who seeks elected office is automatically unsuited for the job. Jeffery Wilder would have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into the office of President.

He was perfect.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:**

I had fun with this one. The story is definitely taken on a life of its own.

Ebata Yuuichi is an original character, his name taken from Ebata Risa and Takahashi Yuuichi, the character designers for _Macross Frontier_. He's pretty much J. Random Government guy, but I need a senior civilian and we don't really have any named ones in the series, other than President Glass. He doesn't want to be President, though, which is his most important character trait.

Brera should make an appearance soon. I'm not quite sure what I want to do with him, yet. Luca will also be appearing, likely doing some technical stuff with regarding some upgrades to the VF-25s that SMS is getting.

I give a special thank you to Andy Wong Fey Hong, for his reviews and for letting me bounce a few ideas off of him.

Gemma's name and appearance are based on a character from one of my original works. The real Gemma would beat Bobby harshly for suggesting a makeover, though.

I also went back and added disclaimers to chapters 3 and 4, just a little CYOA going on there. Sorry if anyone is getting alerts for them.


	6. Chapter 6

This was finished early Sunday morning (2/22/09), like 2am-ish. If only FFNet was working properly when it was done.

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

When Jeffery Wilder entered the bridge of the _Macross Quarter_ ten minutes before change of watch, it was much quieter than he expected. For all of about thirty seconds, anyway, which was how long it took Bobby to notice that he had arrived.

"Captain!" Bobby cried, "Oh thank goodness, I've been so bored, there's nothing to do on watch with the radar down and the radio down and Gemma was too busy to talk to me and no one came to visit and I forgot my phone so I couldn't check any e-mail and please please please don't make me do this watch again!"

Wilder sighed. Bobby was the best helmsman he had ever sailed with, but he was so melodramatic outside of the pressure cooker of battle. "Bobby, you know that you have a watch to stand tomorrow at the same time as you did today. I only have so many bridge officers right now."

Bobby looked ready to cry, but nodded. "Okay, Captain. It was worth a try."

Wilder looked over, and Gemma's relief, a tall, black-haired girl named Midori, came through the hatch and walked over to the ships systems station. She spoke in a low tone to Gemma, something that Wilder couldn't hear, and Mina replied. Midori responded with a loud "Ehhhhhhhh!? That many? What have they been doing, Gemma?"

He walked toward the operators. "Anything I need to know about, ladies?"

Gemma shook her head. "The maintenance and repairs are still on schedule, but they had to bring on an extra crew, there was some damage to the superconducting rings on the port gravimetric array, and the whole unit had to be pulled to replace it, and we had to take fifteen separate systems offline to get access to the unit. We're at one hundred and thirty nine separate systems that are locked down currently, several hundred hatches over-ridden, and an assortment of special conditions currently in effect. I think Midori was just a little shocked by the total."

The Captain grunted. "What happened with the gravimetrics?"

"They think there was some spalling in the enclosure from one of the hits we took, and the spall pieces bridged the ring to the mounting frame at some point. It's still operational, but the engineer wanted to replace it while we had the chance."

"Understood." He turned back to Bobby. "I relieve you. Go get relaxed, and be on time for your watch tomorrow, no whining!"

Bobby threw a jaunty salute and went out the hatch, passing Ozma Lee as he left. Ozma walked over to the captain's chair and waited for him to get settled in it. Wilder looked at him and nodded. "Something I can do for you, Commander?"

"Just checking on the status of the maintenance. My phone doesn't get any signal down in the hanger arm without the repeaters working, so it's been a quiet day. I was just coming up to turn in some reports, and finally picked up the signal from Frontier herself. Cathy's been having a day." He rolled his eyes slightly at this, and Wilder knew that Ozma was sure that Lt. Glass had made a mistake staying with NUNS. For one thing, she was still a Lieutenant, when almost every other officer with her time in grade, and quite a few who had done less to help win the war, had been promoted. Wilder suspected that the high command was punishing her for leaving with the _Quarter_ when they ran, despite the treachery of Leon Mishima and the unlikelihood of her survival if she had stayed.

"And what does the lovely Lieutenant have to say?"

"That everyone in the government is an idiot, pretty much. And she had an odd conversation with Minister Ebata this afternoon."

The Captain frowned. "Ebata…Ebata…the resources engineer?"

Ozma looked surprised. "You know him?"

"Only that he did a damn good job keeping the colony alive under incredibly harsh conditions. He's supposed to be a good engineer and a good bureaucrat. Would rather get his hands dirty than sit in a meeting. I met him once, and I like him."

Commander Lee nodded. "He seems to think the same of you. Cathy said that she thinks he's hinting that you should run for colonial president."

Wilder snorted. "Not that again!" he muttered. "Why is everyone so insistent about that? I like what I do, why would I change that?"

Ozma sighed. "Sir…" He paused, and his face scrunched up in concentration. "Sir, one of my trainers back when I was with U.N. Spacy told me that the reward for a job well done is a harder job. Right now, you're at the top of the SMS pyramid. We don't have a big fleet, and most of our ships are scattered right now. But you're pretty much the boss of SMS, and I'm sure that will be confirmed once all the ink is dry on the paperwork Mr. Birla signed to cut us loose. Even if you bring all of our ships here, there's not a lot they can do, other than provide orbital defense. Most of ships are space carriers. The rest of our offensive strength is in Variable Fighters, and that would be a benefit to the colony, but it's still not a step up. The only tougher job we can give you right now is one in the government. You might not like it, but people respect you, and everyone in Frontier knows that you're the Captain of the ship that found the truth behind the Galaxy conspiracy."

"I don't want to be in government." Wilder said mulishly.

"That's your choice, sir," Ozma replied. "Just consider one thing, though. If you don't run, then what's to stop those bastards over at NUNS from finding a candidate and putting him forward? In the absence of anyone else, he might just win."

Wilder winced at the thought. The idea of some hand-picked NUNS REMF being in charge of his command never sat well with him. The idea of that same REMF holding an elective office over him? And what's to stop them from cutting the contract with SMS and leaving his company out to dry, just to spite one Jeffery Wilder?

"Alright, Commander, I'll consider it."

"That's all we ask, sir." He handed over a stack of readiness reports, saluted, and walked out the hatch. He passed Monica, who was still dressed in civilian clothes, coming through the hatch.

"Hello," Monica said as she walked up to him.

"Good Evening, dear," he responded. "What brings you out to the _Quarter_?"

"I forgot that you had duty tonight, and sat home for about an hour before I remembered where you were. I was lonely." She wrapped her arms around his upper arm and rested against him.

"Did you have a good time today?"

He felt her nod before answering verbally. "Yes, I did. I need to do that more often; spending time with Ram and Mina was fun. Except…"

"Except?"

Monica moved the index finger of her right hand up and down, stroking his arm. "We went to Nyan-Nyan for lunch. Did you know that the government is pressuring Saotome-kun and Ranka and Sheryl to enter into a multiple marriage?"

Wilder frowned before replying. "I knew they were talking about legalizing multiple spouses, of course. What's this about pressuring Saotome-kun, though?"

"They want to use the three of them like some sort of poster children for the idea, since they're all so popular. It's fine if they all love each other, but haven't they all been used enough?" Monica was near tears, but she had been very volatile recently.

"I understand what you're saying, and I agree. They shouldn't be exploited. I just don't know what I can do about it."

She let go and moved to stand in front of him. He was vaguely aware of Midori and Gemma watching them, but was used to the activity, as most of the crew got some sort of thrill watching the romance between the two of them. Monica took a deep breath. "I think you should reconsider running for president."

He suppressed an urge to throw his hands up in the air. What was it with people today? "Would it surprise you to know that Commander Lee has already spoken to me about this topic today?" She nodded. "Would it also surprise you to know that he did so at the behest of Lt. Glass, who in turn spoke to Ozma on the behest of Minister Ebata?"

"The resources guy? He's pretty good, why doesn't he run?"

"Because it seems that, just like me, he prefers doing the job he already has, and would rather any other sucker take the job than be forced to take it himself."

Monica nodded. "I can see that. Well, if you run, you can get revenge by making him your vice-president."

"Vice-president?"

"The colony needs continuity of leadership if something like President Glass' assassination happens again. It won't happen to you, of course, because you're smart, and SMS will be handling your security, but it's a good idea to start setting precedents now, just in case something happens down the line. Or in case I happen to kill you in bed, like you keep swearing that I'm going to." The last line was delivered with a smirk, and Wilder dropped his head, hiding his eyes with the broad bill of his officers' cap, while the two operators who were watching giggled.

"Will you promise to stop embarrassing me if I agree to consider it?"

She nodded. "Sure, I think I can agree to that."

"Good, because I already told Commander Lee that I'll consider it. And I am, for a number of reasons, but if I decide to do it, it will be for my reasons, alright dear?"

"That's fine. Can I use your quarters here? I don't want to take the trip back to Frontier tonight, if that's alright."

"You're welcome to. I'll be off duty in six hours; do you want me to wake you up when I turn in?"

"I would, but you don't need to. See how you feel after six hours of boredom."

He sighed. "I'm afraid that's what it will be, too." She waved and blew him a kiss, and walked out the hatch. Gemma followed her, and Midori turned to the task of coordinating the repair crews once more. She turned in her chair and announced, "Captain, we have restored basic communications, although the Fold-com is still offline. I'm informing Frontier control that we're back on the grid."

"Go ahead, Ensign." The black-haired operator turned and did that, then turned back to him after less than a minute.

"Captain, there's a com call for you, someone must have been waiting for us to go active again," the operator told him, and he nodded. It happened sometimes.

"Route it to my viewer." The holographic screen came to life and Lt. Cathy Glass' image appeared on screen. "Good evening lieutenant, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Captain Wilder, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes about something important…"

He gave a long sigh. It was going to be one of those days.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

In the hanger deck of the SMS complex on Frontier, Luca Angelloni was watching as technicians from L.A.I. delivered the last of four new VF-25s into the hands of SMS. These were the first four units of the fifteen ordered to bring SMS back up to two full squadrons of twelve, before the units for the expansion began to arrive. There would, of course, be spares delivered as well, but these were primaries for the next four pilots to join SMS. There were two F variants, a G-type like Michel's (painted in black with blue "go faster" striping), and a prototype YF-25HW variant, that mounted the full armor package and carried a beam rifle like those found on the VF-27s. Unlike the 27, the 25HW stowed its beam rifle in a mount on its back, offset to the right of the cockpit. It was a true prototype, as L.A.I. wanted to see how it would hold up under operational conditions. The fighter also carried the standard multi-barrel gun that the F and S variants carried. The beam cannon swung down and around, to rest under the right arm, and a handle popped up as it did so. It was more of a fire support weapon than the primary weapon as in the 27, but it was a heavy hitter and adapting it would be beneficial. The biggest concerns with the unit right now were power for the beam cannon and the smoothness of stowage upon transformation, although if the HW went into production, it was possible that the multi-barrel gun would likely be dropped and the fighter would operate with just the heavy beam gun.

Luca stretched his arms, today had been a long day. After leaving base shortly after Alto did, he went to the L.A.I. labs to ensure everything was running smoothly, and then accompanied the convoy that delivered the fighters. He was just as glad to get off base; Klan seemed to be more of a mood than normal. Or maybe she was getting worse? He wasn't sure; he didn't interact a lot with the meltran since Michel had died. Despite being one of his closest friends, Klan had not talked to Luca much about Michel, apparently still angry with Luca over his involvement with Mishima and O'Conner. Unfortunately, it had been a case where, if Luca hadn't gotten involved, they would have likely gone over his head, and he might have disappeared at some point. It was better to be involved, if only to limit the damage, or so he told himself. He still wondered if he had done any good.

He had spent a surprising amount of time talking to Mr. Birla. While he wasn't nearly as naïve as Luca had been, his involvement had been both altruistic and selfish at once. Mr. Birla wanted to find Minmay. He was an old zentran, and more than a little eccentric, even as zentran went, for he had had no trouble adjusting to the realities of human society, and had become a powerful and influential shipping magnate. He had also loved Minmay, but closer to how a man might feel about an angel or a goddess, than how a man feels toward a woman. He truly felt that the universe had become a smaller place when the singer was lost, and he had wanted to restore her light to the galaxy. So while it was more than a mite obsessive, Luca could understand where the Owner was coming from.

The last of the new armor and armor cradles was offloaded, the newest boosters with fold-quartz crystals that would allow for swift, minimal-lag folds, and all that was left were two trucks filled with replacement parts, many of them for the new beam gun. Two engineers from L.A.I. would stay on with SMS for the first month or two of operations, until SMS had enough personnel that understood the system to take over. Considering the amount of talent that SMS tended to attract, he guessed it would be closer to the low end of that figure.

As he watched, his phone rang, and he pulled it out and answered it without looking who was calling. "This is Luca," he said into it.

"Luca-kun," Nanase's voice sounded in his ear, "where have you been all day?"

He sighed. "Working, unfortunately. We're delivering some new fighters to SMS today, and I wanted to be on hand."

"I see," her voice replied, and Luca winced a little. 'I see' was never a good response. "Well, what are you doing now?"

"Um, finishing up here and then…taking you to see a movie?" After the end of the conflict, the Zentran-Human war docudrama "Do You Remember Love?", or "DYRL?" as the fans of the movie called it, had become popular again, and several theaters were showing it, followed by footage of Minmay's last concert. The power of Sheryl and Ranka's songs had reminded the older generation of the power of the music of the original Miss Macross, and they wanted to make sure that the younger generation remembered as well. Too, Grace O'Conner had tried to use the love ballad of the Zentran-Human war against Frontier, and the older generation wanted people to remember what the song really stood for. Nanase wasn't much for war films, but there was a lot of romance in "DYRL?" and she was a sucker for romance.

"A movie, huh? What are we going to see?"

"I was thinking we could go see 'Do You Remember Love?'"

She squealed into the phone. "That sounds grand, Luca, I've always loved Minmay's music. I thought it was the best idea when Ranka sang "Watashi no Kare wa Pilot" for the Miss Macross Frontier contest."

"Can I pick you up in an hour?" he asked her.

"That would be fine, Luca-kun."

"I'll see you then, Nanase-chan"

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Nene Rora stood in the cemetery near SMS headquarters as the sun went down. While Mikhael had been lost to space, he had a headstone, and she needed to talk to him, so it was as good a place as any.

"Michel," she said. "I'm worried about Klan. She loved you so much, and losing you is eating her up. She's changing, and she's losing the person she was little by little as she does. I don't know what to do, but I need to help her."

She sighed. "I'm not a very good meltran, I suppose, but I think I make a good human. I'm too emotional, and rather shy. A meltrandi warrior would probably walk up to Klan and belt her in the mouth and piss her off until she was in a rage of anger and grief. I can't do that. Maybe Raramia could have, but it's just not me. I can stay with her, and if I have to give up a little of my meltran heritage to do so, I will. I just wish you were here, somehow, to help her, to make her understand what she's doing."

The rosette looked at the plain marble marker. "You'd be proud of her, supporting your friends. She's actually turning into quite the sniper. Her combat skills are growing every day, but its costing her her life. She used to embarrass Raramia and me sometimes, going off on you, but I'd live with it every day of my life if I could just hear it one more time. There's no fire in her anymore, Michel. All of her passion is cold anger, and it scares me sometimes. I wish I knew what to do."

Nene suddenly had the image in her mind of Michel and Alto slugging it out in the ready room, the time Michel had almost blown the head of Alto's Valkyrie. There had been many angry words exchanged, but the two had learned to respect one another after the incident. It had helped Michel deal better with his sister's suicide, as well, and it had marked the true beginning of the two boys' friendship.

She glared at the marker, and then gave another sigh. "I don't know if I can do that, Michel. But if you think it will work, I'll give it a try. I owe it to her for so many things." She bent down and ran her hand across the engraved name, then turned and walked away.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka was cleaning up around the apartment while Alto cooked dinner and Sheryl worked on the arrangement of another song. She was calling it the "Nyan-Nyan Service Medley", and she was listening to a recording of the singing during the last battle to try and get the timing of everything, and make it a good arrangement without the breaks in the music that had been forced by the various attacks. Ranka wasn't quite sure why she picked that name, but Sheryl was given to fits of whimsy, so she just went with the flow. She straightened out a stack of books when she felt a familiar, yet different tug at her stomach. She sat down on the couch and dropped into the fold-mind. _/Oniichan?/_

_/*/Ranka,/*/ _came Brera's voice._ /*/How are you, Imouto?/*/_

_/I'm good, how are you? _Where_ are you?/_

_/*/We've finished searching this area, and found the wreckage of three more cruiser. One of the cruisers still had jump-coordinates in its computer, but the drive had been shattered. We're going to follow the jump and see if there are any survivors./*/_

_/I'm sorry your friends died, Oniichan./_

_/*/I am too, Ranka. It was such a waste, all these lives thrown away for the ambitions of a few greedy people. In some ways, I envy the Vajra. They rule by true consensus, for there aren't any true individuals./*/_

_/But then there would be no differences, and no love,/ _Ranka replied.

_/*/Love,/*/_ Brera snorted. _/*/I've never really felt it, other than love of family./*/_

_/It's the most important thing of all, though, Brera./_

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Brera thought about Ranka's situation and the drama of her love life, and decided to tweak her a little. _/*/Oh, is it?/*/_ he teased. _/*/And how is your love going, Imouto-chan?/*/_ Brera could feel Ranka's blush through the fold-mind, and her avatar glowed more brightly than he had ever seen before.

_/It's good, Oniichan. We've finally stopped dancing around the problem./_

Brera was surprised; he figured it would take months if not years for things to settle down. /*/_You're not bawling your eyes out, so did Nome give up, then?/*/_

_/No…/_

_/*/No? You didn't give up, though?/*/_

_/No…/_

Brera looked confused now. _/*/Ranka, what is going on?/*/_

_/They're passing a new law. Frontier lost too many men in the war, and it will take too long to rely just on immigration, according to the government, so they're going to allow multiple spouse marriages./_

It took a moment for the implications of that statement to process through Brera's mind. When it did, though… _/*/I'll kill him./*/_

_/Oniichan, you will not./_

_/*/Yes I will./*/_

_/No you will NOT!/_ Ranka 'shouted', and he instantly had a headache. _/It wasn't his idea, and we've talked a lot about this. I love him, and so does Sheryl, and she doesn't have anyone else, and I don't want to lose her, and if he broke up with her she'd leave Frontier forever. We know it won't be easy, but we've discussed it and we want to try. ALL of us want to try, and interfering older brothers don't get a vote./_ She seemed to glow brighter again, which he realized was her blushing again. _/Besides, Ozma-oniichan already knows about it. He's the one who told Alto-kun about the law./_

That took the wind out of his sails. If Ozma Lee knew about it and wasn't screaming, then Brera didn't have much of an argument. He was still learning to be a big brother, but Ozma had had years of practice, and he usually deferred to the older pilot's judgment on matters such as this. As much as it pained him, he might have to let this pass. _/*/Alright, I'll let it go for now. But if he hurts you, I get to pay him back with interest, you uinderstand?/*/_

Ranka let out a sigh, apparently of relief. He had been impressed that she stood up to him, actually, although he wouldn't tell her that just yet. _/He won't hurt me, but if he did, I'd let you beat him up. So, do you know when you'll be home?/_

_/*/We're still tracing this group, there are five more ships that had been accompanying the three wrecks we found. Once we find either the ships or the wreckage, or completely lose the trace, we'll be heading back to refuel and replenish, and take a few days off./*/_

_/Take a few days off?/ _Ranka's 'voice' seemed light and teasing. _/Who are you and what have you done with my brother?/_

_/*/Ha ha. Even cyborgs need to rest./*/_

_/Or get an oil change./_

Brera twitched. _/*/That girl and that pilot have been a bad influence on you./*/_

Ranka stuck out her tongue. /_Maybe. I miss you, Oniichan./_

_/*/I miss you too, Imouto./*/_ They gave each other virtual hugs, then Ranka dropped out of the fold-mind, leaving Brera in his cockpit. He sent a message to the other fighters in his group, and they turned and vectored back to their carrier. Once aboard, light flashed and a tear in space opened, and the _Guantanamo_-class carrier disappeared into fold-space.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka opened her eyes and adjusted once more to being back in the 'real' world. She stood up and almost skipped over to the table, where Sheryl was straightening up dozens of sheets of staff paper, all marked with a quick and dirty version of the duet from the last battle. Impulsively, she stepped up behind Sheryl and gave her a hug, leaving her arms wrapped around the taller girl's shoulders.

"Ranka?" Sheryl asked.

"Yes?"

"What was that for?"

Ranka leaned her head against Sheryl's. "For no reason, really. I just felt like giving you a hug. I'm just happy, and I'm happy that you're happy, and everything."

The rosette chuckled. "I'm happy for all of that too, Ranka. Who were you talking to?"

"Oh, Brera-oniisan was just checking up on me."

Sheryl frowned. "How far away was he?"

"Pretty far, I'd say. It was still like he was right here. They've been tracing one of the escort fleets. They found three dead ships, but there are still five missing along that route, from the records they accessed, so they're still hoping to find them alive." Sheryl shuddered, and Ranka squeezed her again. "It's okay, Sheryl, they'll find more survivors from Galaxy, just wait."

She nodded. "I know, Ranka, it's just hard sometimes. I can't believe they sacrificed so many people for their plot."

Sheryl started to reply, but was interrupted by Ranka's phone ringing. The vernette stepped back and pulled it off her shoulder and squeezed it, answering the call. "Hello?"

"Ranka-chan! How is my super, amazing, magnificent star?"

Ranka couldn't help but giggle. "Hello, Elmo. How are you today?"

"I'm great, fabulous, wonderful! I have big important news for you and Sheryl-chan. Is she there?" She looked at Sheryl, and she nodded, getting up to stand beside Ranka. Every once in a while Elmo was just too much for her, and she was 'unavailable' to talk. Ranka knew that she genuinely liked the man, and he was doing a wonderful job as their manager, but he could get a little overenthusiastic. "Yes, she's here." She tugged on the two ends of the phone, and it went into speaker mode.

"Sheryl-chan! How are you doing today?" Elmo also wasn't dumb, and he had been more dialed down when talking to Sheryl recently, Ranka had noticed.

"I'm good, Elmo-san. What's the news?"

"Well," Elmo began, "You know how your concert was picked up on every fold-com in Alliance controlled space? We've been getting deluged with requests from different colonies and fleets for copies of your music. We really should sit down and talk face to face about it, but the money is big big big!"

Ranka looked at Sheryl, then back at the phone. "How many requests is a deluge, Elmo?" the younger girl asked.

They could practically _hear_ his smile over the phone. "There's only one artist in the galaxy who has sold more copies of a single than you two. Big enough?"

Ranka's mind froze, and Sheryl started to giggle. Alto looked over his shoulder at them from the kitchen. "He's not talking about Minmay, is he?"

"Bin-go!" Elmo called out. "Hi, Saotome-kun! The duet you two did of 'Lion' has gone nuts, multi-platinum, and apparently a bootleg video of you two singing at the hospital has gotten out. We need to cut an official version of the duet of 'What 'bout My Star', people can't get enough of it! Maybe get the guys from Formo to play backup, really play to the fans, you know?"

Ranka was still trying to process "sold more singles than anyone but Minmay", and Sheryl was giggling hysterically now. Still, the pink-haired singer got herself under control. "That sounds wonderful, Elmo-san. I was just working on the arrangement for a studio recording of the battle medley, maybe put that, the 'Star' duet, and maybe 'Fan Club' and 'Seikan Hikou' together and sell them as a set, a Ranka and Sheryl sampler for the other colonies and such?" Ranka nodded, coming out of her daze, somewhat.

"That sounds like a great idea, Sheryl-chan. I have some other ideas, too, but we need to sit down and talk. You two are the hottest thing in the whole galaxy, so we need to figure out where to go next!"

Ranka smiled. "Okay, Elmo, we'll sit down and talk? Maybe tomorrow? I won't have time until next weekend, otherwise."

"Sounds great, Ranka-chan!" Elmo replied. "I'll get to work getting all the numbers together, and some ideas, and we can go from there, okay?"

"Sounds good, Elmo-san," Sheryl said. "See you tomorrow."

"Ja!" their manager replied, and the call ended.

Ranka looked at Sheryl. Sheryl looked at Ranka. They both looked at Alto, who looked rather bemused. Then Sheryl whooped and swept Ranka up in her arms, spinning her fellow singer around, laughing all the while. Then they rushed over to Alto, and practically tackled him, wrapping their arms around him and jumping up and down like the teenage girls they still were. Ranka didn't remember much of what was said, but they giggled and shouted and took turns kissing Alto, and even kissed each other once, as they celebrated being on top of the musical world.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:**

Note for the last chapter, I suppose. While I don't think I'll be using a lot of lyrics in the story (because translated lyrics aren't musical, and there's no point to the lyrics in Japanese, unless I do a side-by-side, which is sloppy in my opinion), the songs themselves are somewhat important. "Triangler" is the only song sung by Nakajima Megumi (with Sadamoto Maaya, not May'n, but whatever) that isn't actually _sung_ by the characters in the series. So, it will be one of the songs that Sheryl and Ranka will do at some point.

I like using Nene. She's a lot like Klan. She's lost one of her friends, and she's watching the other one slowly fall apart. She seems like the sort of person who would have a big heart, and would try to do something to help. The idea of her talking to Michel popped into my head, and I just had to use it, and I can actually see a way now to resolve some of Klan's issues, which I was having some difficulty with.

I finally got a scene with Luca in, and one with Brera, and in the same chapter. A little Luca/Nanase interaction, too. That just leaves Kanaria of SMS, and Alto's father and brother, at least of the major supporting characters. It might take a few chapters, but a confrontation between Alto and his father over his engagement to two girls might work.

Midori is another one of mine, from a different story.

Okay, yes, I've beaten the political problems to death. It's all from different character viewpoints, I guess I'm trying to show how many different kinds of people think things are screwed up. Now, everyone can harass Captain Wilder into running, instead of complaining that things suck.

Oh, and my comic is getting picked up for production. More details on that once I know them, but we're looking at a June/July release date. Gah!


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

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Alto fought off wakefulness as long as he could. He was warm and comfortable and content, and didn't want to leave any of those states. The only time he felt anything like this was when he was flying, not in combat, but just flying free. He felt movement in the bed and that dragged him out of sleep. He opened one eye to see the beautiful, sleeping face of Sheryl. Her arm was thrown haphazardly over his bare torso, while he could feel a smaller, slenderer arm wrapped around his waist. The body against his back moved again, and he realized he could feel bare skin move against his, and gradually the whole evening filtered back into his mind. He glanced down, and only the rosette's other arm preserved any modesty as it crossed her chest, as Sheryl appeared to be bare at least to the waist, confirming his slightly hazy recollections. The three of them had split a bottle of champagne after dinner, despite being underage, and his bolder love had soon gotten, well, bold. They had sat, talking of inconsequential things, when Sheryl had excused herself from the room for a moment.

She had walked back in, five minutes later, wearing a turquoise micro-skirt and tube top with red suspenders, black gloves, and the officer's hat she often wore on stage. Alto remembered the stunned look on both his and Ranka's faces. Sheryl had actually been blushing, and then she had started to sing. It wasn't any song either of them had heard before, and listening to the words, they both realized that this was a song that they'd never hear on stage. This was the song that Sheryl had been working on, off and on, all day. It was sensual, it was sexual, and the two of them were mesmerized as their love poured herself, and her emotions, into the song. She had beckoned them both toward the bedroom, leading them in, and like the pied piper her music drew them. She let the last line of the song die out, and then had pulled first Alto, and then Ranka, into crushing kisses, asking without words for them to let her lead.

Alto's cheeks heated as he remembered all that they had done the night before. He was damn sure that they wouldn't have been so bold without the champagne, but he was glad that they had had it, for it had gotten them through the first time, and now they would be more comfortable with it. They hadn't had sex, but there hadn't been much else they hadn't done.

Ranka had surprised them both, as under that shy exterior, she most definitely had a wild streak. Emboldened by alcohol, it had been Ranka who had peeled Sheryl's top off and then suckled at her breasts, and her tiny, delicate hands had roamed all over. He was sure that the vernette would have feel hugely embarrassed once she woke up, which was likely to inspire Sheryl to seduce her again, for the singer had claimed that seeing Ranka blush inspired her.

Seeing Sheryl and Ranka stripped bare had inspired him.

The rosette let out a slight moan and her eyes slowly fluttered open. "Hi," he said softly, staring into those eyes.

"Hey," she replied softly. "I think I like waking up naked in bed with you."

He gave her a small but honest smile. "It think I like it too," he replied.

"'S too early," Ranka muttered. "If there's no kissing then shut up…"

An amused look crossed Alto's face. "She's not awake yet," he whispered.

Sheryl nodded in agreement. "I swear we need to record her when she talks in her sleep. She might turn a whole new color of red."

"She just might at that."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Sheryl sat up on her arm, leaned over and kissed Alto's cheek, then turned and tried to get up. Her head was throbbing slightly, her mouth tasted awful, and her bladder was screaming at her to relieve herself. She lurched up and immediately fell to the floor, the tangle of limbs in the bed pulling her off balance. Cursing, and listening to Alto try not to chuckle, she shambled to the bathroom and took care of the most urgent of her needs, then popped a couple of pain pills and brushed her teeth.

She moved back to the doorway and stood there, looking at her loves and just enjoying the quiet and the domestic bliss the view brought about. After a minute or three, still feeling tired, she ambled back to the bed, wicked thoughts coming to her as she watched Alto's stunned and lustful eyes follow her every movement. She stopped at the bed and lay back down next to Alto, putting her arms around him, then leaning in and kissing him good morning in a more thorough and proper way.

They were both kissing and giggling when they hear Ranka moan as she sat up. She still wasn't totally awake, apparently, because she made no effort to cover herself as she shuffled over to the bathroom herself. She wore only a pair of white high-leg panties with a rainbow carrot on the front. The both paused to watch their love, and Sheryl thought that perhaps Ranka was starting to fill out a little more, as her breasts had a bit more of a bounce to them than they did when they had first met.

Ranka made it out of the room and the two of them went back to kissing and giggling, knowing that Ranka would be back soon.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka, for her part, made it all the way to the bathroom before even beginning to wake up. Alto and Sheryl had been making cute cuddling noises, and that had woken her, but she still wasn't really processing things yet. Only after relieving an urgent need to pee and then brushing away her morning breath did she realize that a.) She was practically naked, and b.) She had gotten quite frisky with Alto and Sheryl last night.

Her nipples grew taut and she blushed, remembering all that she had done the night before, before she smacked her face with both hands twice, waking herself up and bracing herself. "You can't act like a little girl, Ranka," she told herself. "You're going to marry both of them." She remembered most everything that they did, and how much she had enjoyed it. She would have never thought she would enjoy having a female lover, but she had liked pleasing Sheryl just as much as Alto did. She found the differences between herself and Sheryl fascinating. She wanted to learn more. She turned and walked back to the bedroom.

"Shouldn't you wait for me?"

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Sipping on a latte, Miranda Merin watched the traffic go by. Heavy trucks full of supplies, cars driven by people in a hurry, and people walking about, going to mundane jobs and doing mundane tasks. If she didn't feel so pathetic she'd sneer in disdain.

She wanted to hate Ranka Lee. The girl was cute, but she was just a girl. She hadn't thought that she would be any competition at all, and had sneered what she had seen as a silly little girl. Ranka Lee was short, slight, and slightly clumsy, and she hadn't seen her to be any sort of threat. Still, her heart had almost stopped when she had heard the girl's musical number announced; a Lynn Minmay song. For a moment, she feared that she was living in some kind of space drama, where the cute heroine wins despite the odds, repeating the events of the past.

Her grandmother had lost to Lynn Minmay in the original Miss Macross contest, and had never forgiven the idol. Miranda had never met her grandmother, as she had never left Earth; her mother and father had saved up and joined the Frontier fleet long after it had launched, her father serving in UN Spacy and then NUNS to help pay their way. The reason her parents had left Earth was because, by all accounts, her grandmother was an unmitigated bitch. It was public record, as her grandmother had been a fairly well-known figure, and it had been a tabloid scandal that she had thrown a party on learning that the _Megaroad-01_ colony had disappeared with all hands, including her rival, Lynn Minmay. Her mother was ashamed to be Jamis Merin's daughter, and wanted to get as far away from her as possible.

Apparently, bitchiness was genetic, it just skipped generations.

Miranda knew she was a bitch. She didn't like to think she was on the scale of her grandmother, but she was fairly bitchy. She had cattiness down to a fine art form. She had never wished Ranka Lee ill, though. Okay, she might have had a hysterical episode when the girl ran off, but that was Ranka's choice. It wasn't like her whole colony fleet disappeared, or something.

When she had won the Miss Macross Frontier contest, Miranda had felt that she had made it, that her years of dance and acting lessons, of interminable hours in the gym, and working multiple jobs to pay for it all (for her parents weren't rich) had finally paid off. Then things went all wrong again with _Bird-Human_.

First, there were all the production issues. Her co-star was a total jerk and a prima-donna who wouldn't do anything that even smacked of stunt work. She herself hadn't had much stunt work, but she was willing to do it. She had run into Ranka Lee again, and was a total bitch to her, which didn't earn her points with many people. How was she to know that all the pilots were friends with the girl?

Then she had made a total ass of herself in front of Sheryl Nome. And what's worse, the singer hadn't even noticed her, preferring to talk to her friends, Ranka and Saotome Alto. And she felt like a total waste, not only had she looked stupid in front of Sheryl and Ranka, but also in front of the director, the assistant director, and an acting legend like Saotome. She had wanted to die.

"Ano, excuse me…" a shy, quiet voice brought her out of her musings. She looked up at the source of the voice…and up, as the voice belonged to the tallest girl Miranda had ever seen. A rosette-haired meltran girl, by all appearances.

"Yes?" she replied, letting more than a little disdain drip into her voice. It was petty, but she was not a morning person.

"Aren't you Miss Macross? Miranda Merin?" the girl asked.

She quirked an eyebrow. Not many people cared about her title after _Bird-Human_ came out. "Yes I am, and you are?"

"Uh, Nene. Nene Rora. I wanted to ask some advice…"

"If you're looking for advice on how to win the Miss Macross contest, don't bother. You're too tall, too shy, too muscular, and I've yet to meet a meltran that has any artistic talent other than singing, and you don't sound like you have a good singing voice. And I don't know why you'd want to ask my advice on the matter anyway, seeing how well I've done since the contest, after all. And thank you so very much for reminding me about it, like I don't do that enough myself. So I doubt I can help you." She took another sip of her coffee, and picked up the magazine that she wasn't really interested in. After about thirty seconds she realized that the meltran hadn't moved, and she looked up to see a very peculiar expression on the girl's face. Almost like…hope?

"That!" the girl finally squeaked. "That's what I need help with!"

Miranda cocked an eyebrow. "What, insulting people?"

The girl, Nene, nodded. "Yes!"

She turned away. "Not interested. You're too mousy and nice to learn to be a proper bitch, anyway." She turned the page of her magazine, and was about to actually start reading the article when the tabloid was plucked out of her hands. She shot a glare at the rosette.

"Look," Nene said, a little more forcefully. "I…I know I can't be a proper bitch. I don't really want to be one. But I need to pick a fight."

"Oh really?" Despite herself, Miranda was intrigued. "And why do you need to pick a fight?"

"May I sit down?"

She shrugged, and the girl sat down. She realized that the girl must be a pilot of some sort, as she was wearing an SMS jacket, and suppressed a groan. The last thing she needed was word of her bitchiness making it back through the channels to Sheryl or Ranka, and if this girl was an SMS pilot, then she probably knew either the girls themselves, or one of their friends. She was trying, she really was, but she had years of practice being a bitch to everyone.

Nene explained to her, quickly, what her issue was. She had a meltran friend who was depressed and in mourning, and nothing seemed to be getting through to her. She was down to resorting to a good old-fashioned head-smashing meltran brawl to get through to her, but she had no idea how to start such a fight. Plus, she had to fight the girl macronized, because of a size issue as a micron, and she needed a way to macronize the girl as well.

"Wait," Miranda stopped her. "Your friend has Pariya's syndrome?"

The rosette looked stunned. "_You_ know what Pariya's syndrome is?"

She huffed. "I'm a bitch, I'm not ignorant. And Pariya was a friend of my mother's before my parents joined the Frontier colony. Was her maid-of-honor and everything."

The pilot looked impressed. "I'm surprised; you're not as self-centered as I was led to believe. You're still as catty as Matsuura-san says, though."

Miranda couldn't help but laugh. "Nanase-chan says the nicest things! Alright, I think I know what you're up against. I think I can help you, so I'll make a deal. You spend the day with me – I'm doing some shopping and could use help carrying things – and buy me lunch, and I can give you some advice. Sound fair?" The meltran nodded, and she suppressed a sigh. The things she agreed to sometimes…

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Ranka and Sheryl sat looking at Elmo with wide eyes. He had dropped several bombshells on them, the first being the amount of money their single had earned. There were millions of copies going to Zentran battle fleets, hundreds of thousands going to different colonies all over the galaxy…it was quite amazing. The second bombshell was his idea for a mini-tour, during the school break, using the new fold-drive. He had already confirmed that a retrofit astroliner would be available if the "Sirens of the Frontier" tour (Elmo had jumped on the name when Sheryl suggested it) became reality. There were still several issues, including getting the government to let Ranka leave for a two months, but with the fold-quartz drive, there would be very little lag time, and their limit would mostly be due to set-up and tear down time. Maybe if they had two astroliners and leapfrogged them? Logistics for this tour would be interesting. The _third _bombshell, the one that truly blew Sheryl's mind, was that the two of them had received and invitation to appear on _Kunoichi_. Ranka just looked confused.

"What's the big deal about that?" the vernette asked, confirming her ignorance.

"It's super ultra mega big!" Elmo exclaimed, and Sheryl gave him a look that said 'I haven't had enough time to wake up yet to deal with that.'

"Ranka," Sheryl said, "_Kunoichi_ is one of the most exclusive programs in the galaxy. With the sheer number of colonies, and meltran fleets, getting one of the one hundred slots is almost impossible. Twenty slots go to regulars, and seventy go to fleet and colony champions, leaving only ten at large slots available. They have two groups that alternate, due to travel times, so there are actually twenty slots overall, but for any one competition there are ten, and the competition is fierce. The last person to get an open _invitation_ was Mylene Flare Jenius, and that was after the defeat of the Protodeviln."

Ranka looked at Sheryl. "How do you know that?"

The rosette snorted. "I tried out right at the beginning of my career. It's easier to get on the show from Galaxy because you can't have any implants except a net port and still compete, and most people on Galaxy exceed that. I got stomped all over by a meltran girl, though, never stood a chance. The zentran and meltran love _Kunoichi_, even more than they love _Sasuke_, and any singer worth the name would want to get on to get that kind of exposure."

Her fellow singer nodded. "I can see that. I don't think I'd do any good though, I've watched it, and it's really hard."

"It's also on Eden, which is a lot of travel time, even with the fold-quartz. I was going to go as part of my tour, if I made it." Sheryl added. "Still, we should think about it."

"If you say so…"

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"Wolf-2, this is Wolf-5. Is this not the most boring duty, over?"

"Wolf-5, Wolf-2, that's a roger. There's nothing out here but a few Vajra, and they're behaving themselves."

"That's a good thing, Wolf-5, I don't think we could scratch them with half the weapons on this old crate, anyway."

"Still better than flying the Brick down here in the atmosphere, I think."

"I suppose that's true, Wolf-5," Wolf-2's pilot, Takakura Takeshi replied. He looked at his radar (again) which showed absolutely nothing out of the ordinary (again). He was about to comment on that fact when his radar display suddenly went berserk, with huge clouds of noise and an overwhelming number of contacts. "Wolf-5, are you having trouble with your radar?"

"That's affirmative, Wolf-2, it almost looks like –"

Takeshi never heard the end of Wolf-5's reply, as his VF-11 suddenly exploded in a huge fireball, the fighter reduced to scraps of metal in an instant. "What the hell was that!" he cried, putting his fighter into evasive maneuvers. He tripped the transmit button on his radio only to be greeted by the harsh hiss of static. "Jamming?" he spat. "Who the hell?" He scanned the sky and saw nothing, but that just meant they were in a blind spot. He flipped the fighter to soldier mode and went crashing towards the surface. His threat warnings were screaming at him now…laser lock, radar lock, infrared lock. He had just a glimpse of a wing and the roar of a cannon, and his Thunderbolt shook from the impacts, while damage warnings popped up. Whatever the hell it was, it was fast, and it was a human design. He turned jerkily, trying to find a target as he slammed heavily to earth. Another mech came down next to him, and he had just a moment of recognition before the missiles coming from in the sun blew him away.

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Ranka and Sheryl were discussing merchandizing with Elmo when they were suddenly and abruptly jerked into the fold-mind. The junior queens were highly agitated and confused.

_// Not/QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers attack/intercept/kill QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers attack/intercept/kill Vajra/subset/dandiform attack/intercept/kill Vajra/subset/Victor.// _came the thought of the hive mind. //_Vajra/subset/Queens/interrogative origin/home/hive Not/QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers?//_

//What?!// Ranka asked. _//What's going on?//_

_// Not/QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers attack/intercept/kill.//_

_//I think,// _Sheryl replied, _//They're saying someone has attacked. But someone not of our hive, not from Frontier.//_

_//Yes/affirmative/correct.//_

_//Oh no!// _Ranka said. She couldn't always jump directly into understanding the hive mind. _//How bad are the losses?//_

_// 010 QueennotVajraRanka/hive/metal/fast/large/hivekillers 01010 Vajra/subset/dandiform 01000 Vajra/subset/Victor.// _Part of the fold-mind helped her do the conversion.

_//2 fighters, 10 dandiform, 8 Victor,//_ Ranka said.

_//Yes/affirmative/correct.//_

She turned to Sheryl. //_Tell Alto, have him call in. They probably already know about the fighters.//_

_//Alright,//_ the rosette replied, and she dropped from the fold-mind. The numbers weren't huge, but it was upsetting that anyone had attacked. Who were they? //_Did any dandiforms or Victors see what killed them?//_

_//Visual/visual/visual/visual.//_ Ranka was bombarded with images, some fleeting glimpses, of a fighter different from any that she had seen before, images of it in soldier and fighter and gerwalk modes, do it was defiantly some sort of Valkyrie, but not any of the ones currently used by NUNS or SMS. She would have to go and talk to Cathy or Ozma-oniisan and figure out just what kind it was.

//_Thank you, I'll find out what happened.//_

_//QueennotVajra/Ranka good/kind/loyal/responsible.//_ Ranka smiled at that, and dropped from the fold-mind.

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Alto realized what had happened as soon as the girls had stopped talking. He knew it was probably something important for the queens to drag them into the fold mind without asking first, and Sheryl soon dropped out and told him what was going on. He winced, then called in to _Macross Quarter._

"Macross Quarter, _Ensign Hoa speaking, this is an unsecure line_," the bridge operator answered as his call went through.

"Ram, this is Alto, go scramble," he said. He pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the scramble button, then put it back to his ear and waited for the tone to tell him the systems were synchronized. Once he heard it, he began. "Lt. Saotome reporting Vajra hive-mind contact with Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome reporting attack by unknown parties on NUNS and Vajra elements."

"_Understood Lieutenant, stand by for command," _Ram Hoa replied.

"_This is Lt. Commander Brunet," _a strong baritone voice came over the phone a moment later. "_What do you have for me, Saotome?"_

"The hive-mind contacted Sheryl and Ranka and reported unknown fighters killing 2 of our mechs, and 18 Vajra, mixed Victors and dandiforms," Alto replied.

"_Understood. We were getting a query from NUNS, but our radar systems aren't up yet, so we have no information on anything of that nature," _the officer replied.

"Am I on recall?" he asked.

"_Not yet. We have no command and control for around another 10 hours, and we're not willing to put our fighters under NUNS control. They might not want to give them back."_ Alto could hear the wry grin on the commander's face, and nodded. NUNS was increasingly becoming a bother over the existence and separation of SMS. Luckily for Alto, it was way over his pay grade, he just had to worry about flying.

"Should I call in to NUNS, sir?" he asked.

"_I'll call Lt. Glass and let her know, since she's technically still our liason. Other than that, you've followed chain-of-command, we can take it from here. Don't go anywhere, though, I'm sure they'll have questions for Ranka Lee and Sheryl Nome as soon as they get their heads out of their backsides."_

Alto chuckled. "That would be a first sir. Saotome out." He hung up the phone and looked at Sheryl and Elmo, and saw Ranka shiver slightly as she came out of the fold-mind. "Looks like we're stuck here for a little while, they'll contact us as soon as everyone's been notified in proper channels."

"That sucks," Sheryl commented.

"Alto," Ranka said, "The queens showed me the fighters that attacked the Vajra, but I didn't recognize them. They were defiantly human designs though. The queens are very upset, but they know its not us that attacked."

Alto nodded. "Once they get back to us, we can go and talk to your brother, have you look the database over and see if you recognize anything." The three looked at each other, and both girls got up and walked over to Alto, wrapping their arms around him and drawing comfort. He looked at Elmo and gave a slight shrug.

"I'll work on setting up some studio time," Elmo said, gather his papers and getting up. "No sense planning a tour if we're being attacked, they won't let you girls leave."

Sheryl shook her head. "Start looking into it anyway, Elmo-san. The government doesn't own us." The plunette zentran nodded, then saw himself out.

"Why does it have to start again?" Ranka whined, and Alto had no words, but agreed. Why did it have to start again?

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:**

I'm a big fan of _Sasuke_ and _Kunoichi_ (_Ninja Warrior _on G4TV for those of you in the U.S. and not in the know). I think that it would be the sort of contest that would really appeal to the zentran and meltran mind. A contest of mental toughness and sheer physical ability. I have the whole back story of how it survived in my head, but it's not that important.

Takakura Takeshi is one of the mechanical designers for _Macross Frontier._

Commander Brunet is named for another staff member, Stanislas Brunet, the set director.

Miranda Merin made a surprise appearance, I wasn't planning on using her, but the idea popped up and I ran with it. I like the idea of Nene needing help to start a fight with Klan, because she's just too nice to do it otherwise. Don't expect to see Alto's family until the relationship between the girls and him goes public. Kanaria should appear soon.


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

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Ozma Lee looked out over the briefing room at his pilots. They were all relaxed for the most part, old hands at this sort of thing by now. Even the new pilots were relaxed. Kakizaki, Luca and Alto's aerial demonstration teammate, sat near them and joked around. Ishigaki and Tenjin, the transfers from NUNS, sat in the back of the room, talking with each other, but not really feeling part of the group yet. Inoue, who had left NUNS shortly after planetfall but had heard through channels of the new attacks, and had joined up to give them a second RVF-25 operator.

Klan sat on the border between the Valkyrie pilots and the heavies, namely Nene and Kanaria. Ozma was working on recruiting more pilots for the Koenig Monsters, but hadn't found one yet. He cleared his throat, and the room quieted.

"I'm sure you've all heard about the attack on the patrol flight. Wolf-2 and Wolf-5 were wiped out in less than thirty seconds. There seemed to be an attempt to strip the wreckage, but it seems that the fires were too intense, and we were able to recover the black box and gunsight cameras. Wolf-5 never saw anything, and indeed was probably never aware of the attack. Wolf-2 tried to fight, but was outnumbered, and we believe that his killer was attacking out of or near the position of the sun. The attackers employed heavy jamming. However, he caught a glimpse of one of the bandits before he died."

Ozma hit a switch on the podium, and the lights dimmed as the display screen flickered and showed the captured image. "This is the mech that Wolf-2 spotted. As you can see, it appears to be a human design. Stylistically, it has many features in common with the VF-22 Sturmvogel, although this seems to be a more advanced version of that design. Note the heavier armor and what appear to be booster packs." He pointed this feature out, then resumed. "The most interesting feature on this fighter, though, is the squadron colors." The display zoomed, and focused on several features. "The fighter bears markings of the Nighthawk squadron, which was a squadron that was associated with the 117th Long Distance Research Fleet."

"What the hell?" Klan shouted. "Do you mean to tell me we're fighting our own people again? More of the morons from the Galaxy plot?"

"That's unknown. The fighter also seems to bear markings of one of the escort carriers, although we don't have a complete shot. There will be no jumping to conclusions, but I for one am not sure that this unit had any part in the Galaxy plot. They're using different fighters, and while the VF-22 is quite capable, the VF-27 has much more firepower and range. That's only my theory, though."

"As of now, there will be no two-element patrols. All patrols will be in four-element wings, consisting of a VF-25, an RVF-25, a 25-G, and a 25-HW. Flight one will be myself, Inoue as our RVF operator, Ishigaki as our gunner, and Tenjin as heavy weapons. I'm flight leader. Ishigaki, I know you've only been through basic sniper training, but you're what we have right now. Flight two is Saotome, Angelloni as your RVF operator, Klan as gunner, and Kakizaki as heavy weapons. Klan is flight leader. Tenjin, Kakizaki, the HW variant is a prototype, if anything doesn't seem right, stick to your primary gun and ignore fire support. We want everyone to come home, and pushing something with a prototype is a good way to insure that you don't. Berstein is on call for fire support for Flight one, Rora on call for Flight two."

"We're on port-and-starboard scramble for the duration or until we get more personnel; we have more coming in the pipeline, but we have to get the NUNS crap out of their heads and introduce them to doing things the proper way." Ishigaki and Tenjin grinned and nodded, having gone through the process themselves. "That means you're here on the _Quarter _for your six hours as the alert squadron. Saotome, I'll see what we can do about getting a berth for Ranka and Sheryl; we might need them close so we can talk to the Vajra." Alto blushed slightly at being singled out, but said nothing.

"The Vajra, according to Ranka, are most upset, but they know that it's not us attacking. The Vajra corpses were completely shattered, though, and the bodies looted for the major concentrations of fold-quartz, so we know what they are after. With an RVF with each flight, jamming shouldn't be as much of an issue, but we're setting up an alert if we lose contact with either flight. The RVF's are likely to be the first target of the attack, so don't get cocky, and cover each other. In the event that you are jammed, the queens will be alerted and the Vajra in the area will provide fire support. We don't know what took out the Vajra in the ambush, but it was an instant kill, so be careful."

He looked his pilots over. "We want to know what's going on. We want prisoners if you can get them. But your safety comes first. This isn't NUNS and we don't have any shitty policies to capture over kill. We're rebuilding strength right now, we lost a lot of fighters toward the end of the war, and a lot of pilots who just wanted out. We're bringing them back in, but they're out of practice. You're Skull squadron, you're the point of the spear, and you have the skill to come back home safe, or you wouldn't be flying with us. Keep your unit safe. It's been 48 hours since the first attack, so we can either expect another soon, or we might be waiting for a while, until they feel we've decided they aren't coming back. We didn't track them in or out, so they may be holed up somewhere on the planet. Keep an eye out for anything unusual."

"Flight one is the alert flight on duty, starting in two hours at 1200. Everyone take the time to ensure that your Valkyries are ready to fly. Dismissed!"

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Alto was inspecting his fighter, having called his girls to let them know what the situation was, and that Ozma was looking to get permission for them to stay aboard. It was an unusual offer by the leader of Skull Squadron, especially considering that one of the girls was his sister, but his comment about being able to communicate with the Vajra was valid. Alto thought he also understood how new the relationship between the three really was, and didn't want to disrupt it.

He was inspecting the VF-25's cannon when he heard shouting. He looked up and saw Nene carrying an upset looking and screaming Klan Klan over her shoulder. What the hell?

Klan was furious. "I don't know what's gotten into you but you better put me down NOW, Nene! I swear I'll bust you to private if you don't stop whatever the hell you're doing. Are you listening to me Nene? Damnit, let GO! Are you out of your mind? What the hell?" At least Klan was as confused as Alto was. He watched the rosette meltran march over to the antechamber with the macronization tanks. Well, that was interesting. He followed, curiousity getting the better of him.

Nene carried Klan to the micro chamber for one of the tanks, and dropped her unceremoniously in front of it, stripping the jacket off of the shocked meltran. Then she picked her back up and dumped her into it, slamming the glass hatch before the blunette had a chance to escape. She punched in several commands into the tank's controls while Klan screamed at her.

The micronized commander's voice was muffled by the glass, but still came through loudly. She was yelling in zentradi now, and by Nene's blush whatever she was saying wasn't complimentary. The tall meltran quickly stripped and started climbing into the second of the three tanks, but she turned toward the door and spotted Alto.

"If she gets out before me, which she shouldn't, don't let her micronize again," Nene told him, before flipping around and settling into the chamber. She closed it and keyed the internal controls, and the micro chamber rapidly filled with the transfer medium. Shortly after that, Klan's tank filled as well.

"Do you think we should get Commander Lee?" Luca said, startling Alto.

Alto looked at him, and then back at the tanks. "I'm not sure. I have no idea what's going through Nene's head, but…maybe she's trying to get through to Klan? She's been following her around like a lost puppy ever since the alert came in."

"By macronizing her?" Luca asked.

"I think," Kanaria said, walking up to them from the hanger, "that Nene is planning on having an old-fashioned meltran discussion with Klan. And she'd feel bad having it micronized, because of Klan's micronization issues."

"Old-fashioned?" Luca and Alto said together.

"They beat on each other until the problem is solved," Kanaria replied.

Luca paled. "I think we need to get Commander Lee."

Kanaria shook her head. "I don't really approve, because I'm going to have to patch them up, but nothing else seems to get through to Klan. If we weren't so short on personnel, I'd ground her, because she's not in a very good state of mind. But right now, especially now, we need her."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Klan was furious. What in the hell was Nene thinking? She didn't want to be macronized! There was no point to it, there weren't any Queadlunn-Rau she could use right now, and she was more comfortable micronized. And she dumped her into the tank wearing her clothes! They were going to be ruined! At least she took off her jacket, Michel's jacket…

Michel. The thought of him hit her, hard, and she felt her now-macronized body respond. Damn it! This was why she stayed micronized. Thinking of Michel spurred her fantasies into life, suppressed by months of being micronized and lacking the hormones to have a proper sexual fantasy. Thoughts of him raced through her head, and she hated Nene in that moment, as all the loss and pain surged back into her heart and all the denial she had built up was stripped away. She couldn't cry, couldn't talk, couldn't even move in the tank, when all she wanted to do was scream and kick and shout.

The transfer medium drained away, and she snarled, working at the latch on the tank. It popped open, and she swung out, looking for the object of her ire. Nene stood before her, wearing a gray macro-sized equivalent of a sport bra and biker shorts. Klan screamed a wordless cry of frustration and swung at her fellow pilot, missing and slamming her hand into the bulkhead.

"That's pathetic," Nene said. "You're supposed to be some strong meltran warrior and you can't even hit me."

"Hit you? I'm going to kick your ass!" Klan snarled. Nene threw a cloth bundle at her, and Klan realized it was another outfit identical to what Nene wore. Klan was so irate she didn't care if she was dressed. She leapt at the rosette and tackled her, slamming her into the wall and making a huge crashing noise. Nene knuckle-punched her in the kidneys, and Klan hissed in pain and confusion as she let the girl go and stepped back.

She's been out of this body for too long, her perception was off. She had tried to wrap up Nene's arms, but had missed horribly. She felt shame on top of the anger, she was supposed to be elite, and she was sloppy. Before she could attack again, Nene stormed toward her, wrapping her up and carrying her out of the micro/macro bay and out onto the hanger deck. She slammed Klan down onto the deck, then looked over and gave a nod, and Klan was shocked to feel the floor lift underneath them. She was on the heavy armor elevator to the deck! She snarled and bucked, but Nene had both the leverage and the size. She was huge for a meltran, and Klan couldn't beat her in a battle of pure strength.

The pair of them came up onto the deck, and Nene popped up and stepped back, and Klan rolled to her feet. She stormed at Nene, and this time the rosette simple took the attack, before returning a few blows of her own. Klan went crashing back, sliding on the metal deck.

"All that time as a micron made you weak, Klan," Nene spat. "You're sloppy and slow. Where is the proud meltrandi warrior now? Where's your fire? Michel would be ashamed of how you've let yourself go."

"GODDAMN YOU!" Klan shouted, surging to her feet. "You have no right to talk about him!" She swung, sloppy but with all her power behind it, and she knocked Nene on her back, close to the edge of the deck.

"He wouldn't even recognize you anymore," Nene countered. "The Klan he knew and loved is gone."

"You don't know what you're talking about!" Klan screamed. "What would you know about it? All we had was our love! We couldn't be together, not with this damned body of mine! And we couldn't admit it until it was too late! That bastard died and I couldn't even hold him or say goodbye!" Klan was starting to cry now. "He kept pushing me away, hiding behind a string of meaningless relationships because he, we, couldn't deal with the problems that we had! And I was too afraid to say anything, because I couldn't give him what he wanted, what I wanted!" Tears were streaming down her face now, her immediate anger forgotten. "Why was it so unfair, Nene? I loved him so much, and I wanted to be with him, but this body was always in the way. Oh god, I wanted him so much, I hated seeing him out with those other girls, knowing that they could give him what I couldn't." She could feel Nene's arms around her, and she collapsed into them, bawling, all of her anger and frustration and sadness overwhelming her. Nene sat them both down, rocking Klan's naked body and holding her, stroking her hair.

"I'm sorry Klan, I'm so so sorry, I didn't want to do this, but we need you, I need you, to be the Klan I've always known, my big sister and friend and leader. I miss you, Klan, I'm so sorry." Nene was crying too, Klan could feel her body shake, but she was too numb from all the emotion to react. The two of them sat on the flight deck in the sun, Nene rocking her as Klan continued to cry, for some time.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Nene tucked Klan into one of the few full-size bunks that were on-board the _Quarter_. The bunkroom was right near the bay for their Queadlunn armor, and was generally intended to be used during alert conditions. Right now, though, Klan was exhausted, and after getting some clothes on her, Nene thought it would be better for her to sleep macronized than to micronize her and risk a relapse. She seemed to have had some sort of breakthrough. Nene closed the door and turned around to see Commander Lee standing on the micron-scale catwalk that ran around the compartment.

"I'm trying to decide just how angry I should be right now," he said, and Nene shrugged.

"I…I wasn't trying to make anyone happy," Nene murmured. "I just wanted my friend back to normal."

"I believe we had a discussion about this, and about me needed Lt. Commander Klan functional," Ozma countered.

"I…" Nene slumped against the wall, sliding down it, putting her head at eye level with Commander Lee. "I'm prepared to accept punishment," she replied. "I know the timing was bad, but I already had the whole plan in mind, and I was afraid that if I waited I'd never pull it off. I was running on nerves and adrenaline and the coaching I got, but I don't know if I could have gotten more coaching."

"Coaching?" Ozma quirked an eyebrow. "I suppose starting a fight like that was a little out of character for you."

Nene nodded. "If Raramia was alive, she would have done it, but she's not. So I got someone to help me be bitchy. I had a few more things to say, but I got lucky, somehow, and she was already mad by the time she got out of the tank."

"Was it anyone on the crew? They should have known better than to do this right now."

The rosette shook her head. "No, it was a civilian. Miranda Merin."

He frowned. "I know the name, but I can't place it…"

"Miss Macross?"

His eyes widened. "That bitch? Well, I suppose you found a proper coach, at that."

Nene giggled. "She's not quite that bad. I mean, yeah, she can be a real bitch, but that's how she deals with people, I think. She does deal with a lot of jerks, you wouldn't believe how many random guys hit on her while we were shopping."

"Shopping?"

"She gave me advice, I carried bags." The meltran shrugged. "I've had to deal with worse."

Ozma grunted. "I suppose you have. I'm still angry, mind you. I need Klan functional. I need you functional. We've got an unknown number of intruders who are killing Vajra, we've got NUNS running around like a bunch of headless chickens, we've got a panicky government council, and after all that I have to go home to a hormonal fiancée with the oddest food cravings known to man! I can't have any infighting reducing our ability to respond right now, Lieutenant!" He sighed. "Your time in grade is suspended for six months. Your time served still gets counted as service, but as far as seniority goes, you accrue none for the next six months. That also affects eligibility for your next promotion. This incident also goes into your file."

Nene winced, but understood. She was getting off light, considering she had skirted around, if not directly disobeyed, orders from her commanding officer. She was lucky she worked for SMS, if she had been part of a meltran squadron, she likely would have been busted back to enlisted and removed from flight status. She had no doubt that if they weren't so short of personnel, that would have been her fate here, too.

"Thank you, Commander," she said.

"Lieutenant…if this works, thank you. Klan needed the help," he said. "I know you were trying to do the right thing. Sometimes, though, the right thing as a person is the wrong thing in a military unit."

"I understand."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka stood in the schoolyard, talking to Alto on the phone during lunch. "I guess we missed some excitement, then?" she asked.

"_I suppose you could say that,"_ Alto replied. _"Although I think you would have been embarrassed seeing a naked Klan and an almost naked Nene fighting."_

Ranka blushed. "Alto, that's mean! You're probably right though. Is Lt. Commander Klan feeling better?"

"_She's resting right now. I think she'll do better now, though."_

"That's good, she's a good person. Who's going to be covering us if Klan and you and Luca-kun are all on alert all the time? How will you even go to school?"

"_We're going to have to use remote terminals for schooling. With the loss of those VF-11s, NUNS only has 26 fighters that are suited for atmospheric work. The VF-171s just have too much crap stuck on them, and if they strip them down so they can fly well in air, they won't have much of anything in the way of weapons. As it is, they're having to hunt up RVF gear for the Thunderbolts, and they don't make Recon packs for the VF-19._

_As for who's covering you, we're kind of stuck at the moment. The Captain considered assigning Monica to you since she's pregnant, but she vetoed that plan right away. It looks as if bringing you aboard the _Quarter_ will take care of the security problems, as well as it gives us a way to talk to the Vajra. Having you two near me is just a bonus."_

The vernette giggled. "Well, Alto-kun, I think it's a bonus too. Do you know how soon they'll authorize it?"

"_The Captain has given the go-ahead, but the government doesn't like the idea that they won't have almost instant access to you. Commander Lee and Lt. Glass are both arguing that the tactical and strategic concerns of being able to talk to the Vajra outweigh little issues like _'will building a road here irritated the Vajra'_? Since we're being looked at as the primary response for any future incursion, they'll win the argument, but I figure we've got another day of foot-dragging to go through first."_

"If I hadn't had to deal with them so much, I'd say you're exaggerating, but I know you aren't." She sighed. "I miss you already. It's not right being here at school without you."

"_Dare I ask how Sheryl is doing?"_

"She's been in a mean mood all morning. She's been complaining about not having her Alto-hime to carry her things, or to rub her back, and she burnt breakfast, so that's probably part of it. If I didn't know her as well as we do, I'd think she was as mean as that Miranda woman."

"_Funny you should mention her, she was the one that gave Nene lessons on how to start a fight with Klan. I think Nene actually likes her, in a weird and twisted meltran way."_

Ranka giggled. "Is it some sort of female warrior dominance thing?"

"_I don't know. Anyway, the Commander needs me for something, I have to go. I…I miss you too, Ranka. Tell Sheryl I miss her too, and I'll try to call you both later."_

"Ja, Alto-kun."

"_Later."_

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Jeffery Wilder sat on the bridge of the _Macross Quarter_, deep in thought. The slow response of the government to the latest crisis bothered him. The fact that they were keeping the fact that there had been an attack from the general public bothered him, too. He'd spoken to Minister Ebata earlier in the day on Cathy's prompting, and didn't like what he had heard. There was absolutely no cohesion in the cabinet. They were trying to run their response by committee, and it took too much time, and they wanted to argue about everything. The only thing that had been agreed on, for the most part, was that SMS was the primary strike arm. SMS was cheaper for them to use than using their own military, so of course they wanted that.

He had grown sick of it, and sadly the only thing he could think to do that wouldn't leave his people on the short end of the stick sooner or later would be to run for president.

He didn't want the job, but it had gotten to the point that he didn't trust anyone else in the job, either. Well, maybe Ebata, but you'd have to drag him kicking and screaming into the president's office. From what he'd been hearing, NUNS was finally going to put forth a candidate, and Vice-Admiral Kikuchi was a career REMF and a totally worthless example of a human being, in Wilder's humble opinion.

"Ram," he said, getting the attention of his communications operator.

"Yes, Captain?"

He sighed. "Put a call in to Lt. Glass. Tell her I need to meet with her at her earliest convenience to discuss matters important to the continued operation of the colony."

"Aye, Captain," Ram replied, turning to her console to do just that. Monica spun in her own chair.

"You're going to do it?" she asked.

He nodded. "I don't think I really have much of a choice, if I still want to be able to live with myself."

Monica favored him with a smile. "I better hurry up and get qualified then, you're going to need more bridge officers. Who will you appoint captain?"

He considered the idea for a moment, but before he could formulate a response, Bobby Margot appeared right next to his chair, with sparkles in his eyes. "Oh, Captain, it would be an honor to serve as the commander of the _Quarter_."

"I'm not that crazy, Bobby," he replied, and the helmsman pouted.

"Totally unfair, that's what you are."

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Wilder responded.

Bobby snapped a salute. "Aye aye, Captain! Or should I say, Mr. President?"

Wilder shook his head. Some days, he swore, this crew was going to drive him crazy.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Sheryl was annoyed. First, some jerks attack the colony and kill some Vajra, so that SMS gets put on alert and her Alto gets stuck on base, and then the same jerks refuse to attack again, so that Alto and his friends can put them out of her misery and things can go back to normal. So unfair!

She knew she was being a little unreasonable, she thought as she sat on the couch in the apartment, but really! It was interfering with her cuddle time with Alto. While they still hadn't done the deed, there had been quite a bit of frisky behavior, and Alto had wonderful hands. Ranka actually had some amazing skills as well, but while having the three of them fool around at once was one thing, she didn't think she was ready to try something with just Ranka, even assuming the girl was willing. Sheryl's poor hormones were just going to have to stew tonight. Hopefully the damn bureaucrats could get off their asses and they could spend tomorrow night on the _Quarter_ with Alto. Commander Lee had already assigned married officers quarters to them, which was a nice gesture. Technically, the quarters were for her and Ranka, but no one expected Alto to stay in his own room in the BOQ.

Ranka flopped down next to her on the couch and leaned up against her. Sheryl looked over and just rolled her eyes slightly. Ranka was turning into a real snuggle-bunny, wanting to be in contact with someone all the time. It wasn't clinginess so much, she just seemed to want to be touching either Alto or Sheryl all the time. Sheryl absently played with Ranka's hair while they watched the entertainment portion of the news. Nothing new and unexpected; although rumors of their new four-song release (likely with the karaoke versions, so really, eight songs) had already hit the news. Elmo didn't waste much time.

"Sheryl," Ranka said as the commercial break came up, "can I sleep with you tonight?"

She looked over at the vernette. "Haven't you slept with me every night since we agreed to share Alto?"

Ranka nodded, blushing brightly. "But tonight, he won't be here. I sleep better when I'm with someone else."

Sheryl smiled despite herself. "It's fine, Ranka-chan," she replied. "You don't have to be all embarrassed about it."

"I wasn't sure if you were just tolerating me because of Alto."

The rosette huffed. She leaned over and kissing the top of Ranka's head. "Silly girl. I told you that I love you. I would never share a bed with someone I only tolerated."

"I'm sorry, Sheryl. Sometimes it just hits me, and I worry."

She pulled the smaller girl into a hug. "Ranka, you don't have to worry. You're our cute Ranka-chan, _my_ cute Ranka-chan, and I'm going to keep you around for a long time, and I know that Alto wants to, too. You're too loveable, there's no reason to worry, because we won't leave you."

This seemed to mollify her, and they sat in silence for a while, just watching the news. Still nothing on the attacks, stupid government.

At the next break, Ranka stirred. She sat up and leaned in, kissing Sheryl on the cheek, then sat back down into Sheryl's embrace. "I love you too."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:**

I wasn't real fond of Chapter 7, but it did some things I needed to do. I like this chapter a lot more.

Vice-Admiral Kikuchi is named for the director of _Macross Frontier_, Kikuchi Yasuhito

All the new pilots either draw their named from _Frontier_ staff, or one of my projects.

The Nighthawk squadron is named for squadron VFA-136, the Knighthawks, part of Carrier Air Wing One of the US Navy. The change in the name is, well, these are bad guys. I'm not going to directly insult a good squadron's name like that.

I hate being sick, but it lets me get writing done.


	9. Chapter 9

Sheryl hated hospitals. From the vague memories of the days after Grace found her wallowing in poverty to her frequent trips for treatment for exhaustion and later the terminal stages of the V-type infection, she loathed every minute wasted in a hospital. Now, she found she had another reason to despise them, for as much as she hated being in a hospital, she hated being a visitor to a patient in one even more.

The steady tone of the monitors let her know that Alto was alright, his pulse was strong, his breathing fine. He had a severe concussion but it was under control and his unconsciousness was due to the body trying to heal itself. Knowing that made seeing him lay there no easier, nor did it erase the terrible image of his bloody body being rushed to the medics. And to think that he had been lucky, that if he hadn't turned right when he did the sniper's round would have cored the pilot's compartment and he would be gone…like his flight mate, Kakizaki.

The thought of Alto being gone was horrible to contemplate, and the suddenness of the new attacks, after the brief peace following the war, showed Sheryl just how tenuous their lives were. She could still lose Alto at any time; he did a dangerous job, and although he did it well, the risks were high. New feelings were filling Sheryl, those of wanting a family. She had thought that Ranka and Alto would be enough, that she was happy that she was no longer alone, but now she wanted more. She wanted a piece of Alto, a child of his, and although these feelings were new, they were almost overwhelming in their intensity. Alto did a dangerous job, one that he did well, but the incident three days ago had proven how vulnerable he still was. She didn't want to lose everything of him; she didn't want to lose anything at all, but the impact of this on her was strong, and she knew she wanted a child by Saotome Alto.

This made her think of the arrangement between the three of them, and the games they were forced to play. She was tired of the games, she wanted the law announced and she wanted to be married. She wanted to shout out in public, she wanted to sing out that she was in love with and married to Saotome Alto and Ranka Lee, that she was theirs and they were hers and damn what anyone thought.

As hard as this was for Sheryl, she thought that Ranka had it worse. The people she loved were always ending up in the hospital. Ozma, Alto – even her brother had ended up here shortly after that last battle, with neural damage from implant burnout that the doctors had struggled to treat, keeping the pilot in the hospital for a week as the doctors fought and learned as they went. Although Brera had recovered, Sheryl thought it was a closer thing than anyone had said. Ranka had been in a panic when Alto was brought in, and Kanaria had ended up giving her a mild sedative to calm her down. When she fell asleep they moved her to a room for observation, and so that she could be close to Alto when she awoke. Since then the poor girl had been alternating between Alto's bedside and the school, having only gone in to the government building once for a short meeting. Sheryl had been impressed as the vernette shouted down several ministers and directors, telling them in no uncertain terms that if they could not control the planet, then the Vajra would declare the planet a no-flight zone, and shoot down anything that moved outside the colonies, and incidentally cutting off all interplanetary trade, and access to any more fold quartz. With that she had turned and left the government council stunned and scrambling to regain control over their airspace. The loss of the fold quartz, the colony's sole current trade resource (as all other production was devoted to getting the colony to its break-even point in regards to survival) had dire financial and strategic implications for the colony, and being trapped inside Island-1, for there were still very few land routes, would bring construction and colonization to a screaming halt. Something had to be done.

A day after that, with still no action forthcoming, Captain Wilder had declared his intention to run for Colonial President. In a grand and sweeping announcement, he had boldly stated that he was running, his track record as a commander defending Frontier, his willingness to take on corruption, and his vision as a member of the colony. Monica came forward and spoke for her fiancé, detailing his love for her and their commitment to the future of the colony in the form of their unborn child. He had cajoled Minister Ebata into in role of running mate, and paraded him to the media as the man who had kept Frontier fed and breathing during the last desperate weeks before planetfall. He challenged any other contenders to show that they had done more for the Frontier colony than he and his vice-presidential candidate.

So far, his opposition had failed to do so.

With such a bold opening move (which Sheryl had been brought in to advise on, given her vast experience with public performance) Wilder had short-circuited some of the character-based attacks the NUNS candidate could make. By portraying himself as a family man who was interested in the future of the colony, he refused to allow anyone to use his relationship with Monica as a weapon against him. That the operator was smart, bold, and pretty was icing on the cake, and the first poll that evening showed that she had a higher approval rating than Wilder did. The Captain ran as an independent, forgoing any existing political ties and clearly stating his views on the issues. The only real issue that the colonists cared about right now was the immediate future, and Wilder not being a part of the system that had spawned collaborators and traitors made people believe that he was looking out for their future, not just his.

Overall, Sheryl thought that his campaign would go well. Another part of his pitch had been to appeal to reservists, recently-released members of SMS, and officers who had resigned from NUNS to come join SMS, the strongest arm of the colony. Despite the loss of Kakizaki and Alto's hospitalization, SMS had crushed the attacking force, with Klan counter-sniping Alto's attacker and Ozma's flight scrambling and descending upon the intruders like furies born. The squad of eight VF-22s had been pared down to two, and only luck and damage to both RVF fighters had prevented them from being tracked back to their carrier. The real reason for the Vajra threat was due to Ranka's distress, as the Vajra felt the loss of each unit, but it did not ultimately affect the hive except as minor loss of resources. No, the Vajra cared more that their Queen was upset, and Sheryl wondered how much of the threat was theirs and how much of it was Ranka's idea. She thought her love was tired of always giving, always being used. Ranka was growing some teeth, and although she was glad to see the vernette stand up for herself, she was sad at the loss of innocence. She wanted Ranka unspoiled. Well, except for any despoiling that she or Alto did to the girl.

She looked to Alto once more. No change. How much longer would he sleep, she wondered.

Sheryl really hated hospitals.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Ranka floated in the ether of the fold-mind, not focusing on anything, listening to the thoughts of the hive mind as it directed the many Vajra that lived on the planet. She could 'feel' Ai-kun in the mind, as he had a slightly different 'flavor' than that of the other Vajra. She wasn't sure if it was because of his exposure to her, or that she was familiar enough with him to be able to pick him out as opposed to the rest of the Vajra, but she could tell him apart, and that was what mattered to her. Ai-kun might be just a node of the grand hive fold-mind, but he had been her friend at a time when she had had few real friends, and she would always cherish him for that.

Floating with the fold-mind and trying to listen to it was easier than thinking about Alto. Ranka had come to cherish the ability to get away from everyone, no matter where she might be, simply by falling into the gestalt of the Vajra. As the pressures on her continued to grow, she had come to use the fold-mind more and more, and she was learning about the Vajra, coming to understand them and learning how to direct the hive mind, to make suggestions, to understand the thoughts without the medium of the queens to explain matters to her.

She 'felt' for Ai-kun once more, finding him and his place in the fold-mind, and out of curiosity, 'looked' more deeply, using techniques the queens had been trying to teach her, and suddenly, she was in one of the fields across the bay from the _Quarter_ and Island-1, but the view was distorted, and she realized she was seeing through Ai-kun's eyes. She backed away and came back to herself in the web. It was an odd, yet amazing experience, and she wanted, needed to know if she could do it again. But Ai-kun was familiar. She looked across the hive mind, finding the most unfamiliar feeling Vajra she could, and applied her mind once more, twisting her thoughts to enter the senses of the Vajra. She opened her eyes, and saw light streaming all around her; she saw shapes, those that had to be other Vajra, moving around her, and she realized after a minute or two that she was underwater. She knew there were aquatic Vajra, but she had never seen one before, and looking around she thought that they were beautiful. Sleek and powerful, yet unlike the whales or dolphins she saw in books, they were Vajra idealized for oceanic life. The Vajra she was sharing senses with cried out, and moments later she felt the echoes returning, and she was amazed as she realized that they saw with sound as much as they did with their eyes. She broke contact once more and floated through the web, losing focus and drifting through the psychic ether. This was amazing. She needed to show this to Sheryl.

She turned and looked for her fellow queen and singer, and quickly found her, a bright, dense node surrounded by the nodes of the junior queens. She was still learning the how to knock without pulling Sheryl directly into the fold mind, and she really needed to figure the trick out before she ended up interrupting something important, like kissing time. Maybe if she used the mental twist while she knocked…

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Nene was bored. When Klan had woken up, she had added three weeks confined to quarters when not on duty to Nene's punishment. Except for meals and one trip to the ship's store a week, Nene's whole world had been the four walls of her compartment on the _Quarter_. She was lucky that she didn't have to share quarters right now, which would only have made her even more miserable, as she felt stifled and cramped as it was. Being one of the largest meltran ever, she didn't fit into most spaces very well. She was limited in her exercise, didn't care for most television, didn't play any computer games, and had seen most of the movies currently available on the network. She was already down to her last two books, she still had one more week to go, and the ship's store didn't have any others that interested her. She was really, really bored. She wished something would happen.

She regretted that thought a moment later when a high-pitched feminine scream sounded outside her room. The scream continued, growing in volume and intensity, and Nene was out the door before she consciously thought about it. She ran down the corridor and came to the source of the sound, the shared quarters of Alto, Ranka, and Sheryl. Nene hit the open button, but the door didn't move, and for a moment, she almost panicked. Looking around, she spotted the ship's call terminal and keyed the preset button for sickbay. Ten agonizing seconds later, Kanaria answered the call.

"_Sickbay, Lieutenant Berstien…what is that sound?"_

"I think it's Ranka, Kanaria!" Nene replied in a quavering voice. "She just started screaming all of a sudden, and the door to her quarters is locked and I don't know what to do…" The terminal was already blank, and Nene waited another agonizing thirty seconds, which she later thought was the longest thirty seconds of her life, before Kanaria practically exploded out of the lift, slapping her phone against the keyplate. The door and the phone did their virtual handshake and Kanaria's medical override code popped the door open a second later.

The source of the screaming was indeed Ranka, who was thrashing on the floor, her eyes wide and unfocused, blood streaming from her nose. Kanaria bolted across the room, dragging Nene with.

"Hold her head steady, keep her from hitting it on anything. How long has she been like this?"

"At least a minute, minute and a half?" Nene approximated.

"Damn." Kanaria muttered. "I think something must be causing it, but I don't know what it could be or how to treat…"

Ranka suddenly collapsed and went silent. Nene went through a moment of atavistic panic before Kanaria finished checking her vitals and said, "She's still breathing, but her heartbeat's a bit erratic. I have two corpsmen coming, we need to get her down to sickbay immediately. I don't know what caused this, but I'm just thankful that you were nearby. If this had gone on she might have hurt herself badly before it stopped."

Nene watched as the two corpsmen (one of those anachronistic naval terms, she thought in a detached corner of her mind, considering that one was, in fact, a woman) carefully load Ranka on to a gurney and then move as fast as possible after Kanaria. Nene decided right then and there that she would never, ever again complain about being bored.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

"Damn it!"

Ozma Lee was mad. He tended to joke with Cathy that, as CAG for SMS and squadron leader for Skull squadron, it was his job to be unhappy, irritable, and angry – at least on the outside. He was quick to tell someone when they made a mistake, and only praised someone when they did something exceptionally well. When Alto killed a Vajra with a millennia-old zentran weapon during his final readiness test, Ozma had been quietly impressed, but he hadn't been about to let the headstrong and cocky rookie know that. And knowing Klan's meltran pride, a quick insult about the zentran weapon and she was more that ready to play 'good cop' to his 'bad' without him even asking. He believed firmly in pushing his pilots to be the best and to work together, and by giving them someone to hate more than any of their fellow pilots, he gave them a common bond that helped bring them together despite any differences.

This mad, though, was not a professional mad. This was a deep, fierce, gut-clenching anger that had him ready to shoot the next person to ask one more ridiculous question. He had lost one pilot, and had almost lost another, one of his best and most trusted pilots, and the fact that NUNS continued to fail to get any kind of response together ate at him. That their best pilots were defecting to SMS in droves now was a factor, but they seemed to continue to be playing the political games that worked well while the colony was in transit, but no longer applied now that an active colony was trying to build itself from the ground up. He didn't think that NUNS would ever get their act together, planet-side, and that the force would soon be relegated to extra-atmospheric traffic-control, customs inspections, and asteroid interception duties, leaving the policing of the planet solely to SMS. While this would be a good thing, it sat wrong with Ozma that the military he once served could sink so low.

On top of the pilots, now his sister and her best friend/co-fiance/fellow queen were in the hospital as well. Ranka had been rushed to the ICU after Kanaria stabilized her on the _Quarter. _Upon arrival at the hospital it had quickly been discovered that Sheryl had gone into a screaming seizure at the same time that Ranka had. This led Kanaria and the doctors treating Sheryl to surmise that the matter was somehow Vajra related, but it was, of course, only supposition. But with both links to the Vajra unconscious and likely to be so for some time, the government had gone into a panic. Already upset with Wilder's campaign, and lacking any real direction, the leading committee had become increasingly agitated and representatives were calling the hospital every half an hour for updates on the status of Ranka and Sheryl. Three delegations had already been turned away by the hospital staff, and Luca and Klan were currently stationed at the entrance to the hospital to repel the next deputation, which Ozma was expecting some time in the next hour. He almost wished he could watch, as pint-sized Klan in her highly customized X-Gear bodily removed the government representatives.

Either that, or he wanted to remove them _himself_.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

His fighter bucked as he pushed it faster, power-systems taxed by the extended series of long-distance folds he had put it through. Brera had heard an awful psychic shriek echo across the plane of the fold-mind, and though it was far, he knew it was Ranka the moment he heard it. He had argued with his commander for an hour before convincing him that he had to leave, that he had to return to the colony. He had tried to find Ranka, or Sheryl, but something had happened and the junior queens were protecting them fiercely. The still were less than accepting of him, as he had the same 'flavor' in the fold-mind as the conspirators that had made him, and although Ranka had vouched for him, without her influence the juniors had closed ranks and shut him out. So now he had to get to the one other person that could enter the fold-mind and be trusted, even if he needed a bit of help (and a special earring) to get there.

Brera wasn't sure why he couldn't reach Alto, whether the idiot had taken off the earring or if something was wrong with him, but he felt that there was no time to lose, before the Vajra hive-mind became truly agitated. He wondered if anyone back on the colony had truly figured out the role that Ranka and Sheryl held within the hive, and why the queens that remained continued to be referred to as 'junior queens'.

They were junior queens because they were subordinate to Ranka and Sheryl. And with their queens unresponsive, it would only be a matter of time before someone provoked the Vajra, and without the calming effect the two had on the hive-mind, anything might happen. He needed to reach them before it did.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Author's Notes:

Okay, yeah, this took a long time to get out. There were circumstances with work which put writing on a hiatus until June, and then my children arrived two weeks earlier than was planned, which shot most of the summer. I needed a couple of weeks to recover from that, and here I am. I want to get some more of this written and posted before I dive deep into comic book publication, because I honestly won't have any time once I do.

The chapter was short, but in this case needs to stop there, as I already have a good portion of the next chapter in my head, and the flow will work better if it stops right there.

Thanks to Panaka and Andy Wong Fey Hong for writing and making me get off my ass and get this done, and for all the people who have added me as a favorite. I'm writing this for fun, but I'm glad that other people like the story too.

And I'm thinking that I really need to get the story wrapped up before the Frontier movie ends up coming out.


	10. Chapter 10

Disclaimer: Don't own it. If I did, I wouldn't have left the ending so open.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

"Wake up, idiot."

Alto heard the words, but decided he wanted to ignore them. They were being spoken by that jackass Brera, and he'd much rather sleep than talk to the cyborg pilot…

…"_think I saw something down there, sir, a flash of metal or something." Alto heard Kakizaki say over the com._

"_Copy that, Skull-7. Klan, did you receive that?" he spoke into his helmet mic as he keyed the button for general transmission._

"_Roger, I received that, and it's Lt. Commander Klan to you…"_

…"I finally accepted that for some reason my sister cares for you," came Brera's voice again, intruding on his thoughts, or were they memories? Or dreams? "But if you don't wake up then I'm going to have to start objecting again. Rather strenuously. By thrashing you soundly like we both know I can."

Alto almost snorted, but that would have required waking up further, and he didn't really want to do that just yet…

…"_Wow, what a mess…there must have be three or four Victors and at least a dozen Dandiform, but they're sliced all the hell up," Kakizaki reported, turning over a rent carapace with the tip of the heavy cannon his fighter carried._

"_I think this confirms the Commander's report that they are going after warp crystals," Luca replied. "They've cut open the Vajra to extract the shards that they carry; I guess no one told them that the dandiform don't carry very large crystals at that stage of development."_

"_There are still two untouched bodies, though," Kakizaki responded. "Does that mean we…"_

_Suddenly there was light, and a deafening explosion, and Skull-7 dropped like a puppet with its strings cut._

"_SNIPER!" Klan cried, and Alto kicked, literally, throwing the foot thrusters on at full burn when he suddenly felt heat and pressure and then blackness…_

…"Saotome, wake up or I'm getting Captain Bobby."

THAT registered. "Keep that freak away from me!" Alto muttered, trying to sit up; in doing so, he realized he was floating. He snapped fully awake. "What the hell, Sterne? Why are we in the fold-mind? Where are Sheryl and Ranka?"

The purple-tinted form of Brera Sterne hovered in front of him. "That's what I hope you can tell me."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

"…So the Vajra won't talk to you? Are they still that mad at you?"

Brera sighed. Saotome Alto was an excellent pilot, for a flesh-and-blood limited being, but he still didn't quite understand how the Vajra communicated, or even how they thought. He didn't understand that the Vajra weren't 'mad' at Brera; rather that they didn't trust him, that they didn't view him as part of the hive. He still 'tasted' like the rest of the cybernetically-enhanced people from Galaxy, and so they viewed him with the same suspicion they showed to the outsiders that had tried to take over the Grand Queen.

"They aren't mad, Saotome, but they don't want to talk to me. The only one that they _might_ trust would be the chosen consort of the Queens." Brera wished that he didn't sound so flat in the fold-mind, so impersonal, but it was an artifact of how he interfaced with fold-space.

And Saotome looked as clueless as he often did, his face screwing up in an odd expression. "I didn't know that the queens had consorts. Aren't the Vajra pretty much asexual? I thought that they reproduced through some weird parthenogenic thing?"

Brera blinked. Then blinked again, looking at his fellow pilot oddly. "I'm surprised that you know what the word 'parthenogenic' means, Saotome." He smirked just slightly when Alto made a rude hand gesture. "And I'm not talking about the Junior Queens. Doesn't it strike you as odd that every time my sister and her fellow idol commune with the Vajra, the messages they bring back always refer to the Vajra queens as 'junior'?"

Saotome may be slow, Brera thought, but judicious application of clues would lead him to leap to the right conclusion fairly quickly. "Oh, hell. You want _me_ to go and talk to the Vajra and get them to release their 'Queens' to us? They don't even like me!"

"I agree with them fully. But I feel that you are the only one that can approach the Queens without being instantly rebuffed. You always want to be the hero – and why is that, are you compensating for all the time you spent as a child playing the helpless maiden? – so you get to go and face the fearsome monsters."

"Fine, I'll go and talk to them," Alto said with a mild sigh. "And I am not compensating."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Miranda gave a sigh as she listened to the news continue to report on nothing, then sipped at her coffee. Sheryl Nome and Ranka Lee were still in the hospital, cause unknown. Saotome Alto, former kabuki actor and current SMS pilot, often romantically linked either Sheryl or Ranka (and how the newsies hadn't quite caught onto reality there, Miranda wasn't sure), was also hospitalized. The news cameras were a ways off from the hospital, shooting with long lenses; the reason for that seemed to be a tall, heavily-armed blunette meltran, sitting in what had to be the largest lawn chair on all of _Frontier_ on the lawn of the hospital. Miranda knew that if she were the producer, she wouldn't be risking expensive and (currently) difficult to replace camera equipment by getting too close to the volatile SMS pilot. Once had, amazingly enough, been enough of a lesson for the newsies. Miranda felt a secret, special glee every time she saw the playback of the meltran giving a newsie hover-cam a well placed kick that sent it on a ballistic arc that ended in the colony's freshwater sea. She had been hounded quite a bit during her early reign as Miss Macross, before being displaced by Ranka as the newest media darling.

The news shifted to commentary on the new law currently under debate, a law that would allow for multiple-partner marriages. The experts trotted out all sorts of statistics, half of which went by so fast that she was unsure just what the numbers had been about, but it all came down to the colony having a gross imbalance between women and men, heavily in favor of the women. Something had to be done, and the government apparently favored this multiple spouse option. They talked about immigration, and how anyone brought in wouldn't really be part of the Frontier colony, and that giving the necessary incentives to encourage that immigration would further draw down the colony's already strapped treasury. Miranda knew she wasn't the smartest person on the colony, or the most politically savvy, but for all the debate, she already knew the outcome.

The news broke for a commercial, and there was a political ad for that SMS Captain, that was running for President, his cute wife by his side. Miranda suppressed a snort. She had gone to primary and secondary school with Monica, and knew all three of the SMS bridge bunnies from Mihoshi, although they had little to do with each other; Miranda was in performance – dance – and Monica and her cohorts were all technical tracks, and the other two were younger than her in any case. She hadn't even known the other two had gone on to SMS until seeing them in a news report after the end of the war. That Monica was married to that Captain was of no surprise to her; the girl had always had a thing for older men.

She changed the channel and gave a sigh as she saw it was yet another report from the hospital. She perked up when they went to the long view – there was another meltran who had joined the blunette who had been there before, and it was the rosette that had come to her for advice on being bitchy. Perhaps she should pay the girl a visit, even if she was currently micronized, and she how she was getting along. She could even get one of her obligatory charity visits done. Not that anyone seemed to care that Miss Macross was visiting, but she certainly wasn't going to surrender her crown because she hadn't been attending to the duties laid out to her upon receiving said crown. That decided, she finished her coffee and departed for the hospital.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Kanaria watched over the recumbent forms of Brera Sterne and Saotome Alto with a frown. Between this room and the one holding Sheryl and Ranka, every single trustworthy person that the Frontier colony had that could enter the fold mind and speak to the Vajra was accounted for. As the primary physician for SMS and Ozma's preferred caregiver for Ranka, she was feeling more than a bit of pressure from the government to get some answers. Klan was on security detail at the moment; when Kanaria came back from lunch with her family, the meltran had been sitting outside the hospital in the biggest damn folding chair that Kanaria had ever seen; apparently tired of having to shout and argue with the government delegations, Klan had opted to increase her volume physically instead of audibly. She and Ozma were both good enough students of old Earth history to get Luca's quip of 'speaking softly and carrying a BIG meltran'.

She only wished that she could solve her problems as easily as Klan had solved hers. Sheryl and Ranka continued to have identical vital signs, down to their EEG readings, and with the arrival of Brera, all four now showed the unique brain patterns of an individual in contact with the fold mind. This was an improvement in Alto's case, a step up from oblivious unconsciousness, but whether the pilot would emerge on his own volition remained to be seen.

FTPFTPFTPFTP

Mopping his forehead and fussing with his hat, Elmo Kridanik continued to peruse his email. There was a copious amount from the people of the colony, hoping that Ranka and Sheryl would get better and sending their well wishes. He flagged these and made copies for the girls, so they could see the number of people who cared. There were also quite a few missives from the government, demanding updates; it was these that had him sitting at the hospital, protected from the overzealous functionaries by the armed might of Lt. Commander Klan Klan's arms. He deleted the government email, along with most of those from the press. He had a few reporters that he had good relations with and he sent them off a form letter he had already composed, promising them information as soon as he was authorized by his clients or their families to do so. Since Ozma cared not one whit for the press, and Alto was currently just as insensate as his girls, there were no worries that he had to produce any information anytime soon.

He shuffled through the rest of his email, looking for anything interesting, and deleting the spam (thankfully there wasn't much, just a few junk mails from his galactic music accounts), while his mind was pre-occupied by the condition of his girls. He was so focused that it took him a minute to realize that someone had joined him at the table. He looked up, and was thankful for his habit of always wearing tinted glasses, as his eyes went wide when he recognized his guest.

He knew who she was, of course, who didn't know Miss Macross? He was genuinely surprised to see her here, partly because he knew she didn't care much for Ranka, and if she had family here, she certainly wouldn't have stopped to talk to him, would she?

"I'm sorry, I was so caught up in my work that I didn't notice that I had been joined by the lovely Miss Macross! I'm ashamed of myself! Can I get you something to drink?"

The girl smiled, a wry smile that Elmo felt looked out of place on her proud features, and she shook her head. "That's quite alright. I don't want to take up too much of your time; I know what a busy man you are."

"Not so busy at the moment," he sighed. "This is truly a trying time for me. We have so many opportunities, chances to spread our music and our message to the whole galaxy, and now my two lovely singers have been struck down by some mysterious and malicious malady!" He was waving his arms as he finished, gesturing broadly as he spoke.

The redhead laughed happily. "You really do love music don't you? I didn't think that the stories about you were true, that you are all about _Deculture_."

Elmo nodded. "This is true, and I'm not ashamed of it. I was lucky to find Ranka, who was a gem in the rough, and even luckier that Sheryl came to me in her time of need. I consider every day that I get to work with such talent a gift."

Miranda nodded. "They are amazing. When I first met Ranka, I'm sorry to say…well, no. I wasn't sorry then, but its all part of the game, isn't it? I tried to intimidate her, and probably succeeded, but it didn't get me anything in the end. I was a bitch to her, and if she's still as meek and mousy as when I first met her, I doubt we'd get along. But there has to be something more to her, doesn't there?"

"Ranka is learning to be strong. She isn't letting anyone walk over her or make demands anymore. She speaks for the Vajra now, and while I don't understand the Vajra or what it takes to communicate with them, I don't think that anyone can be their voice and not learn to stand up and be strong."

The erstwhile Miss Macross nodded once more. "I would think that you are right. But I _am_ taking your valuable time, and I should speak to you about why I'm here."

"Of course, of course! I'm always willing to listen to a lovely lady!" the zentran said, standing and sweeping his hat off his head with a bow.

"You're planning some kind of tour for them, aren't you?" The manager nodded, and Miranda continued. "I was hoping to approach you about a job, actually."

"A job?"

"Yes," Miranda said, "I was hoping that the upcoming tour would be big enough that you were going to employ dancers, and I wanted to ask if you would consider me for lead dancer and choreographer." Elmo's eyebrows went up slightly, and the redhead rushed on. "I know that I don't have a good track record with either of the girls, and I know that I was horrible in that movie – which isn't really my fault, because it didn't play to my strengths at all, but of course I should have told them that – but I really am an excellent dancer and I really do want to be a part of something great and grand and that would let me see more than just this little colony…"

Elmo laughed, a loud, raucous sound, interrupting the girl's ramblings. "That's fine, that's fine! I'll make sure that you'll get an audition – I can't promise anything more than that – but you seem to be sincere, and anyone who is sincere about spreading the message is always welcome. _Deculture_!"

"Thank you, Mr. Kridanik."

FTPFTPFTPFTP

It had taken time to reach the queens in the hive mind, partly because Alto was easily distracted, and partly because the Vajra were less than helpful when it came to Brera, but eventually the two of them 'stood' near the queens in the vastness of the fold-mind. The junior queens were arrayed like an honor guard, watching all approaches and blocking any from approaching. Alto noted the circling, agitated presence of a solitary Dandiform that could only be Ai-kun. He looked at Brera, and the cyborg favored him with a look that said _'get on with it'_, so with a mental sigh the actor-turned-pilot floated forward.

_//QueensnotVajra/consort/Altokun greeting/salutation/welcome//_

Alto knew that it was useless to try and figure which of the junior queens had spoken, since in truth they all had. He faced the nearest one as a courtesy. "I…" He concentrated. //_I need to speak to Ranka and Sheryl//_

_//QueennotVajra/Ranka QueennotVajra/Sheryl confused/muddled/scrambled/scared/terrified/frightened/hurt/pain/agony interrogative QueennotVajra/consort/Altokun help/help/help//_

_//I will help them, I promise. May I see them?//_

The Vajra queen nearest Alto 'slid' to the side, allowing Alto his first clear view of the girls (no matter where he and Brera had 'stood', they had been unable to see past the Vajra) and if he were able to draw breath here, it would have hitched. Ranka and Sheryl floated, back to back, partially overlapping, their hair entwined, hands interlinked, and the glowing auras that normally highlighted them were swirling wildly around them, the pink and green making patterns and eddies of energy leaping away from them and then falling back , sometimes falling upon the girl it originated from, and sometimes not. Both girls had their eyes closed, looking almost peaceful but for the tight lines of their mouths.

"Sheryl…Ranka…"

Both girls opened their eyes at once, heads turning toward him, but still overlapping. Their eyes were both swirls of pink and green. "Alto-kun," they said in a strained unison, pain evident in their voices. "Help us…"

FTPFTPFTPFTP

**Authors Notes:**

Not as long this since the last one this time, thank god.

Yes, I know, cliffhangers are evil. But the chapter really wanted to stop there.

No real references this time. Hopefully, this chapter somewhat clears up what happened to Alto, and gives some hints as to what's going on with Ranka and Sheryl. Also hopefully, I think that there will only be a few more chapters and this will be wrapped up. I'm not trying to make this into a long term project, and I really do want to have it done before the first movie comes out, but barring that, since its mostly going to be rehashed TV footage (and THANK YOU, Gainax, for starting that wonderful trend) and not much new story, definitely before the second movie comes out, which will be a new story.

Somehow, I've gotten roped into writing for a second comic, which pushes back the release of my project, but also brings me more money once everything gets approved, so I can't complain too much. Less time for fun things like this (the initial treatment materials and the short script I did took about 2 weeks) but nothing too onerous. Maybe I can actually make a living writing?

Nah.

Thanks to everyone who has put me on their Favorites list, especially since the last chapter. That was a lot of my motivation to get this done. Thanks again.


End file.
